


CMSN Volume Two

by crimsonSardonyx



Series: CMSN [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Amber gets more than six minutes of non-coma screen time, Amber has no idea what she's doing, Angst, Badass Amber, Cinder and company take team RWBY's place, Cinder still does not have a small honest soul, Comedy, Emerald just wants a normal school year, Glynda is not paid nearly enough for this shit, Hordes of Grimm are slaughtered, Marcus Black remains worst parent, Mercury is less of a shit though, Mercury is still smug, Mute Neopolitan, Neo is Roman's niece, Neo wishes everyone would stop worrying about her, Ozpin might need a new plan, Prom, Qrow is a bad life coach but he's trying, Roleswap, Snark, Together they fight Grimm, White Fang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-06-07 08:38:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 37,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6797017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonSardonyx/pseuds/crimsonSardonyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo - students of Beacon Academy, not villains - are doing their best to become a team. They've settled their differences, but not the ghosts of their past. Marcus Black is determined to punish Mercury for his betrayal, and he'll take any ally he can get. Team Crimson's got a long way to go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Volume Two, Chapter One: Recovery

Volume Two, Chapter One: Recovery

 

            The firing mechanism came to life. Intricate devices slid past one another, passing the shell forward and into the barrel. The hammer slammed down, striking the round and igniting the gunpowder load within. A wave of heat and force blasted outwards, forcing its way down the barrel and out of the weapon. The recoil slammed the mechanism back, clearing the path for the next shell to enter the barrel and ejecting the used one. As the mechanism pressed forward again, it carried the shell with it, depositing the shell in position for the next shot. Simultaneously, the tightly-packed pellets contained within the fired shell broke free, expanding into a cloud of metal that slammed through the holographic target.

            Mercury strode forward, towards the center of the room. More holograms flickered into existence, alone and in pairs, and he blasted them away. He continued on, lifting his legs in smooth, controlled motions to fire. When he reached the middle of the room, two rings of targets formed around him and began to spin. Mercury threw himself forward, balancing on his hands and sweeping his legs through the air in great scything arcs. More targets activated, beyond his reach, and he gunned them down without pause.

            In moments, only two targets remained, spinning through the air on predetermined trajectories. Mercury bounced back to his feet and tossed a pair of clips to the ground. The case for the semicircular stacks of shells was flattened at the midpoint, allowing them to balance as upward curves. They landed side-by-side. With a mechanical snap, the spent clips ejected from the backs of Mercury’s boots, and he flipped forward, slamming his heels through the last remaining targets and onto fresh clips.

            Heavy protective plating slid away from one section of the wall, revealing a massive impact sensor. The sensor plate was scorched and scarred with dents, pockmarks, gashes, bullet holes, and every other conceivable form of trauma. An oversized target flickered into existence upon it.

            Mercury swung his legs around and behind him, rising up into a runner’s stance. He accelerated forward, greaves knocking sparks off the floor. With meters to go, he launched himself into the air, flying feet-first at the target. He slammed into the metal, sending a shockwave blasting outwards, then opened fire. The recoil knocked Mercury to the ground. He got to his feet, still unsteady.

            “Simulation complete.” The training room intoned. “New best time. New maximum force exerted.”

            Mercury waved away the smoke wafting from his greaves. “I’d call that a successful test.”

 

            Summer was ending, but determined not to die quietly. Mercury wiped sweat from his forehead as he exited the room. He’d altered his usual outfit - removing his armor entirely, leaving his arms bare. He was also wearing shorts in place of his usual pants, but that was for easy access to his prosthetics. Despite this, and his refusal to leave the air-conditioned buildings for any length of time, he still struggled with the heat.

            Mercury wandered through Beacon’s hallways, bouncing up and down on his heels or flexing his ankles. The halls were empty, with the heat driving students back to their rooms or out of Vale entirely. No one sane would be doing more work than they had to in this weather, especially not on a Sunday.

            Mercury entered the upper levels of Beacon’s arena, where he and his team had defeated Cardinal last week, to find Cinder and Emerald battling Jaune and Pyrrha. Cinder fought a spirited battle against Pyrrha, forgoing her bow and arrows in favor of melee. Given the ferocity with which Pyrrha pressed the attack, this was not by choice. Despite Pyrrha’s greater skill with a blade, Cinder fought hard, managing to keep Pyrrha from breaking through her defenses with quick parries and the occasional blast of flame.

            Close by, Emerald and Jaune battled with much less energy and determination. Jaune panted for breath as he swung his sword in clumsy, telegraphed patterns, while Emerald’s strikes lacked precision and force. The arena was air-conditioned, but the strain of combat and Cinder’s fire had proved too much for the ventilation to handle.

            Cinder and Pyrrha, by contrast, ignored the cloying heat. Pyrrha, at least, was fighting on despite the temperature. Cinder was unaffected. _Some people have all the luck with Semblances_ , Mercury thought, finding a seat.

            Cinder parried an overhand slash with her blades, stopping Pyrrha’s weapon inches from her head. Pyrrha pushed forward, slamming her shield into Cinder. Cinder let the attack throw her back, unleashing a blast of fire at Pyrrha. Instead of block it directly, Pyrrha dove to the left, hurling her shield to the right as she did so. The shield slammed into the back of Emerald’s head, sending her stumbling forwards and into Jaune’s next attack. It ricocheted off the walls of the arena twice, bouncing at improbable angles, before striking Cinder in the small of her back. Cinder reeled, dropping her guard, and Pyrrha charged, slamming her to the ground.

            Jaune’s strike knocked Emerald to the ground. As he moved in for the finishing blow, Emerald threw her sickle away blind. It struck the wall of the arena and held firm. She yanked its chain, pulling herself out of the way of Jaune’s attack. As she slid backwards, she opened fire with her second revolver, forcing him to bring his shield up. Emerald regained her feet, pulling her sickle back to her as she ejected the empty cartages from her second.

            Pyrrha fired twice at Cinder, point-blank, and knocked her Aura into the red. She spun, sighting Emerald as the thief reloaded, and fired a trio of shots at her as well. Two buzzers sounded, their blare mixing together.

            Mercury whistled, ignoring Cinder’s glare. It was easier than usual – her heart wasn’t in it. As Pyrrha helped Cinder to her feet, the doors to the arena opened again.

            “We’re ba~ack!” Nora sang, skipping down the steps.

            Neo followed close behind her, with Ren bringing up the rear. The trio were dressed normally, despite the heat. Of course, Ren would wear his outfit in all weather, never showing any sign of discomfort. Neo could be wearing something much more weather-appropriate and throwing an illusion over it, and Nora was Nora.

            “What took you so long?” Emerald called.

            “Stopped for ice cream!”

            “Did you bring us any?” Jaune asked.

            “Yep! But… it was melting, so we ate it too.”

            While Nora bantered with the students in the arena, Ren and Neo spotted Mercury and made their way over to him.

            “I didn’t think you’d be finished repairing your weapons yet.” Ren said, nodding at Mercury’s legs.

            “Neither did I, but Beacon’s got some good workshops. They’re much less stingy with their tools than with their Dust.”

            Mercury got up, stepping into the aisle to display his modifications. Previously, his prosthetics had resembled bare bones. Lacking the materials or the funds to armor them, he’d settled for crafting the basics and letting his Aura take care of protection. Now, though, sculpted metal plates protected the front and back of his shin, with smaller ones covering the junction between flesh and metal. The barrels of his guns still formed the central structure of the prosthetic, what everything was built around, but the clips, located in the heel, could be reloaded on the fly. Finally, unsatisfied with the shining, polished metal Beacon provided, he’d spray-painted the whole thing grey. Before, his weapons were unmistakably replacement legs, with the exception of the more armored boot portion, but now they could be mistaken for extensive armor from the knees down.

            Neo applauded, while Ren contented himself with an approving nod.

            “You’ve been busy.”

            “Did you get what we sent you for, or did you just get ice cream?” Emerald asked. She and the other combatants had made their way up into the stands to better talk to the new arrivals.

            “Of course we did! Eight two-way tickets to Atlas for the festival and tournament! Here’s yours, and yours, and yours…”

            “Hold on,” Mercury interjected, “Atlas? They hosted the festival the year before last. It’s our turn.”

            “There was an announcement last week.” Pyrrha said. “Before Port’s lecture?”

            Mercury shrugged. “I was working on my greaves. Either that or napping.”

            “Well,” Cinder said, “Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company have come up with a number of technological innovations, both in general and for Amity Colosseum, so it’s been parked in Atlas while they retrofit it. The upgrades took longer than expected, and it won’t make the trip to Vale in time, so they’re hosting again.”

            “Did they say what they were upgrading?”

            “It’ll be a surprise. It’s sure to be big, but that’s all we know.”

            “Big and over budget.” Mercury said.

            Neo smirked. _You can say that again. Wanna bet it’s just a fresh coat of paint and some more loudspeakers?_

“My money’s on weapons!” Nora said.

            “A new environment, perhaps?” Ren suggested.

            “Whatever it is, I want us to be ready.” Cinder said. “Mercury, now that you’re back in fighting shape again, you can train with us more rigorously. There’s some group maneuvers that I’d like to go over.

            “Seriously? I just finished getting these up to speed. How long have you been training today, anyway?”

            “I’m curious as well.” Pyrrha said. “You, Emerald, and Neo were training today when I arrived.”

            “The Vytal Festival’s happening soon. We intend to win.” Cinder said.

            Silence fell. The two teams eyed each other, unsure how to progress from a declaration of rivalry.

            “Well, uh… We’ve got some work to finish up, so we’ll leave you to that, but have fun!” Jaune said. The other members of JNPR muttered agreement as they made their way to the exit.

            “For what it’s worth,” Emerald spoke up, “I’m not that invested in winning the tournament, since-“

            “It’s not about the tournament.”

            _You just said you’ve been running us ragged for the-_

“It’s not about the tournament.” Mercury interrupted, supporting Cinder. “My dad – he kills people. People pay him to kill people.”

            Mercury looked each of his teammates in the eye in turn as he spoke. Emerald and Neo winced, dropping their gazes as they remembered that frantic battle a week ago. Emerald rubbed her neck, Neo her head. Cinder met Mercury’s gaze dead on. She’d come to the same conclusion already. While he’d been spending every free hour in the armory, she’d been training her team.

            “The last time we fought, he almost killed all of us. The time before that, he-“ Mercury paused, motioning downward.

            “We need to get a great deal better in a short amount of time.” Cinder said, taking over the explanation again. “There’s no reason to believe he won’t try again. We surprised him last time. Repeatedly. That won’t happen twice.”

            _And we can’t go to the authorities about it without revealing that this assassin’s son happens to be attending Beacon at the moment._

            Mercury winced.

            _Sorry_.

            “No, you’re right. Not a good idea.”

            “I have to ask, Merc… Why didn’t you get a fake ID sometime?”

            “They’re expensive. Way too expensive. I didn’t want to work with anyone my father could go to for information, either. They can be bribed. Most of the time, before I left, I was working under one false name or another anyway, so I figured I’d be safe from the authorities without going to all that trouble – assuming they’re not investigating my dad and what he’s doing here. Besides, do you know how rare it is for someone to ask for ID in the uglier parts of town? I was pretty well off the radar for a while.”

            Emerald whistled. “I kinda feel like I should be taking notes.”

            “You don’t know this? I thought you were supposed to be a criminal.” Mercury joked.

            “Hey, I stayed small-scale.” Emerald said. “I never had to worry about false identities or bribing contacts, I just cycled between a few pawn brokers who didn’t ask questions. Quick, simple, and risk free.”

            Mercury developed a sudden cough that sounded a great deal like _“Hei Xiong’s club”_.

            “…That was _one time_. Shut up.”

            _“Anyway,”_ Cinder interrupted, “We need to train more.”

            Mercury and Emerald made a decent effort, but the only one who pulled themselves into something resembling a ready stance was Neo.

            “…Tomorrow. We’ll keep working after classes tomorrow. For now, get some rest.”

            Only too happy to oblige, Mercury left, offering a perfunctory wave as he began the trip back to the dorm.

 

            There was something about Vale that appealed to Marcus. Perhaps the food, or the flora, or the well-organized system of crime that the Xiong family ran, but none of those were unique to Vale. He’d been in plenty of cities with good restaurants, intelligent, reasonable crime bosses, and all the rest. There was just something about the atmosphere, perhaps – after Mountain Glenn turned out to be a monumental flop, the people were more willing to step inside and draw the shutters – ignoring the strange and dangerous. After all, who wanted to chance they would be next? In an unpleasant district like this, at this time of night? Unless he threatened someone, he was invisible, and even then only the threatened would notice.

            Marcus strode forward confidently, projecting absolute authority with each step. Typically, a frontal approach was his last resort, but these were unusual circumstances. The guard at the warehouse entrance glanced up as he entered, then snapped to full attention, drawing a gun. Marcus was already in motion, charging forward and kicking the pistol out of his hand.

            Undeterred, the goon drew a sword and pointed it at Marcus. Elbow locked, blade at shoulder level, fist clenched – there were a dozen ways to deal with the idiot, and several involved taking his weapon away and using it on him. Marcus settled for reversing the motion of his boot, catching the sword on his sole and swinging it into the ground, putting his full weight behind it. With a musical clang, the sword snapped, sending shards of metal flying across the room.

            The guard drew back a foot of jagged steel, switched to a reverse grip, and leapt forward, bringing his new dagger down in a two handed strike. Rolling his eyes, Marcus leaned out of the way of the strike, letting his opponent crash to the ground. As he attempted to rise, grey Grimm mask cracked from the impact, Marcus rested his boot on his opponent’s neck.

            “Kid, you should call for help about now.”

 

            Moments later, a trio of White Fang guards – all wearing the more intricate masks of those who’d served the organization for some time – burst in, weapons leveled. Not giving them time to assess the situation, Marcus tossed a mask at the guards. It was brief, designed to conceal the eyes and forehead, marked in red.

            The lead guard, carrying a heavy crossbow, snatched it out of the air, glanced at it, then refocused her aim. The two others circled him, moving out of his peripheral vision. He did not move, keeping his hands in plain view and his boot on the guard’s neck. The kid still struggled, but he’d all but given it up as a lost cause.

            “How did you get this?” The leader snapped.

            “It was a gift.” Marcus replied. “Something for my services in Mistral.”  
            “Who are you?”

            “Marcus Black.”

            “Check it.” She barked to the other guards

            Marcus heard one of them talking, presumably into a scroll. The whispered conversation was brief. Moments later, the bulkiest White Fang member Marcus had ever met lumbered into the room. “Marcus.” He rumbled.

            “Lieutenant.” Marcus replied, giving the slightest of nods. He’d been lucky to find this White Fang base still in use – luckier still to find someone he’d worked for before.

            “The guard?”

            “He attacked me.”

            “Off.”

            Marcus stepped back, releasing the faunus. He scrambled to his feet, retreating to join the ranks of his fellows.

            “Weren’t called.”

            “Actually, I’m here to ask something of you. After what I’ve done for you over the years, I think it’s only fair. I’m calling in my favors.”

            The massive faunus folded his arms. “What?”

            Marcus produced a USB stick from a pocket and tossed it to one of the guards. It contained his most recent photo of Mercury, taken a few weeks before they’d parted ways, and his sketches of the three working with him. He was better with building layouts and weapons than faces, but he had managed to construct a reasonable replication. His drawings of their weapons were much better.

            “Anything your contacts can dig up on the four people on that drive.”

            The Lieutenant paused. His expression was unreadable through his mask, and his body language gave nothing away. After a moment, he spoke.

            “Why?”

            “My usual sources can’t turn up anything.” Strictly speaking, this was true, but Marcus suspected Junior would have been much more willing to help if he hadn’t been forced to kill the thugs he’d hired. They were in no condition to escape the police, and Marcus couldn’t allow them to be captured. A shame, that – much of Vale’s underbelly interacted with Junior in one fashion or another. Marcus suspected his name would be mud among Vale’s conventional criminals for some time to come. The White Fang, happily, cared little about that.

            After another long pause, the Lieutenant inclined his head.

            “Cost.”

            Marcus tossed a stack of Lien to another guard.

            “I’ll pay more once you find something.”

            “Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I return! CMSN Volume Two is underway. Weekly updates, just like Volume One, will continue until the story's complete. We've got a chapter or two of setup before diving back into the action, and I hope you'll enjoy what I've got planned. To all my old readers: Thank you for sticking with me through Volume One, and welcome to the sequel. To my new readers: It's good to have you along for the ride.


	2. Volume Two, Chapter Two: Preparations

Volume Two, Chapter Two: Preparations

 

            “It’s mo~orning! It’s morning!”

            “Wuh?”

            “…Good morning, Nora.”

            “Morning!”

            “Bwah?”

            “Morning, Jaune!”

            “Mmmmrrrrgggh.”

            “I’m sure that means ‘Good morning, Nora’.”

            “If you say so! Dibs on the shower!”

            With Nora departed, a modicum of calmness returned to the dorm room. Pyrrha, who’d remained silent through the initial wakeup call, leaned over to speak to Jaune. “You know it’ll be better if you’re awake by the time she comes back.” She said, not unkindly.

            “Mmmmhmmm.”

            “You are not usually this tired in the mornings. Are you feeling all right?” Ren asked.

            “Oh, me and Jaune were sparring last night. He’s really improving!”

            “I’m impressed. You’ve shown a great deal of dedication to that training, and I agree that it’s paying off.”

            Jaune smiled. “Thanks, Ren,” he said, standing and wincing as a number of sore joints protested.

            “I agreed to spar with Cinder this evening, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind an extra opponent.” Pyrrha offered.

            “Thanks, Pyrrha, but I don’t think I’m in any shape for that.” Jaune chuckled, stretching.

            Pyrrha hid her disappointment well. “Oh, that’s fine. We’ll stick to our schedule.”

           

            “Students! Today we begin training in unarmed combat! Weapons can jam, empty, or be lost, but you are never without your fists and Aura! Pair off and show me what you can do!”

            Jaune whimpered. Ren patted him on the back in a vaguely conciliatory fashion, then began scanning the crowd of students for a suitable partner. Almost at once, he made eye contact with Emerald. She made her way past other students squaring off on the arena floor to him and dropped into a fighting stance.

            She attacked, making short jabs with her fists that he blocked without much trouble. Ren slapped her next attack away with his forearm and struck back with a palm strike Emerald barely avoided. Her dodge was clearly practiced, yet at the same time unskilled – there were ways to avoid that strike that didn’t expose her to a well-placed elbow.

            Emerald hopped back, smarting, and Ren advanced, keeping their distance constant but not attacking. “What style is that?” He asked, and then sidestepped an uppercut.

            “All sorts of things.” Emerald replied, stepping forward and inside his reach. She had the advantage, this close, but Ren ignored the knee she planted in his gut, withdrawing to a more comfortable range. Emerald tried to close again and Ren stepped in to meet her, grabbing her at shoulder and hip and flipping her onto her back. Emerald curled up as she hit the floor, letting gravity carry her from her rear to her back to her shoulders, bringing her feet up and over her head. She planted her arms to either side of her shoulders and shoved off as her legs began to drop, launching herself feetfirst into Ren in a move that was so very _Mercury_.

            Ren stumbled backwards, balance lost for half a second before he planted his left foot behind him and skidded to a stop. Emerald had landed on her hands and knees, facing away from him, and he took advantage of her poor position to land another strike. She was already getting to her feet, and all he hit was her shoulder, but it was better that nothing.

            “I see what you mean.”

            She shrugged, this time circling him instead of going on the offensive immediately.

            “You pick up a lot by watching fights and getting in them. It’s not pretty, but when was the last time you had to wrestle a Grimm?”

            “Technically? Initiation.”

            Emerald snorted. “You’re joking. …You are joking, right?”

            Ren stepped forward, making a quick feint to her left, then a heavier strike to her right. Emerald shifted, moving to block the feint, and he slammed a blow into her side, flaring her Aura to life and unbalancing her. Wasting no time, he swept her legs out from under her, sending her to the ground again. This time, he pursued her, pressing her flat to the ground with one arm while cocking the other back for a punch.

            “I am not.”

            “Well, I’m impressed.” Emerald said, maintaining her light tone despite her circumstances. “I guess your training has advantages.” She continued speaking, but her words were drowned out by a panicked yell. Ren glanced up to see Neo fling Jaune into the air. He flailed, grasping at nothing, as he reached the apex of his arc, then crashed back down. The fall failed to seriously affect him, and he began getting to his feet as he watched, but Neo was already pouncing on him.

            Ren’s attention was yanked back to Emerald when she threw her weight to the left, forcing him off of her. He rolled, but she latched onto his arm, forcing it behind his back as he fought to stop his momentum. Emerald was too quick – by the time he’d stabilized himself, he was on his side, right arm pinned behind him at a very painful angle, Aura or no Aura.

            “Playing fair never gets you anywhere, though.”

            “Well done.” Ren chuckled. “I believe this exercise is designed to test how we do when we _are_ playing fair, however.”

            “Why would we ever do that?” Emerald asked. “Our odds are bad enough as it is.”

 

 

            Neo scrawled annotations and calculations across a blueprint, pausing occasionally to tap her pencil or rub her forehead. After a particularly long pause, she slumped lower in her seat, flicking her pencil across the table to bounce off the wonderful, complicated tools she’d never get around to using at this rate.

            “Hey there!” Nora chirped as she slid into the seat next to Neo. “Whatcha working on?”

            _I’ve been thinking about upgrading my weapon,_ Neo signed. _I’m just not sure where to start._

“Ooh! I can help! Let’s see what you’ve got here!” Nora scooted her chair over to Neo, peering at the blueprints she was working on. “This looks really complete, actually. Wait, is that a –“

            Neo cut Nora off before she could fully descend into weapon-geekiness. _It fires explosive rounds, yes. It’s not mine, though. This is my uncle’s weapon, Melodic Cudgel. I based my umbrella off of it, actually._

“Cool! This looks like a sturdy design! Not as fun as Magnhild, but I’m sure it’s much easier to maintain. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep the mechanisms oiled? Oh, what’s that in the hilt?”

            _He swears it’s a useful gadget. Anyway, you’re right – it’s a simple and effective launcher, but the problem’s that I just don’t have space. I can’t add it without bulking up the body of my weapon, and that just creates more problems._

“Well, what if you just made a replica, and used both? Dual-wielding’s great! I’d do it with Magnhild if I could figure out how!”

            _I need both hands to use either one properly. It’s a good idea, but it wouldn’t work._

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Well, it’s a shame, but maybe it’s for the best. I remember when I was designing Magnhild, and I wanted to build a Tesla coil into the handle – which would have been awesome if it worked – but Ren convinced me I should keep the modifications a little simpler. One of these days, though. It’ll be great.”

            Neo sighed. _I know, but I really need the extra firepower._

“For the Vytal Festival?”

            _…Something like that._

“You shouldn’t worry about that! We’re first-year students, silly! No-one expects us to beat the veterans! If we lose, no-one will look down on us, and if we win, we’ll be champions!”

            Neo nodded absently, turning back to study the blueprint.

            “I’ll let you keep working on that, then. Thanks again for the tip about the grenades!”

 

            The sun was setting in a blaze of red and orange when Cinder and Pyrrha met on the roof above their dorm.

            “Cinder! I was hoping you’d make it.”

            “Hello, Pyrrha.” Cinder said, readying her weapons. “Standard rules?”

            “Yes, but be careful of the edges. It’s a long way down.”

            Metal crashed against metal, again and again, as their fight began. Two floors down, Mercury closed the windows.

            “That’s better. Any idea who’s up there?”

            “Cinder and Pyrrha, I think.” Emerald said.

            “Huh. You think she’s got a grudge, after getting beaten the other day?” Mercury asked, moving to his bed and falling into it.

            “Could be.” Emerald shrugged. “I doubt it, though. Everyone’s on edge lately. Have you seen the news?”

            _News?_

“I saw.” Mercury said. “The police say they found a bunch of corpses – Xiong corpses – near the construction site.”

            _You think it was your, ah, you think it was Marcus?_

“Of course it was. It makes sense – he never liked loose ends.”

            “Mercury, are you sure we shouldn’t go to the police? If you can provide helpful information – bolt holes, methods, weapons – they might-“

            _“Yes,_ I’m sure. Why are we still having this conversation?”

            “We’re in over our heads here, Mercury! There’s an assassin after you, and we have no idea when or where he’ll come from next!” Emerald snapped, rising from her seat on her bed. “We’re sitting ducks, and we all know it!”

            “Selling me out is not an alternative, Emerald!” Mercury yelled, approaching her.

            “I’m saying we don’t need to sell you out! We can try to cut a deal, but we can’t do this on our own! That’s not an option either!” Emerald didn’t retreat, striding forward and meeting him in the middle of the room.

            “You really think that?”

            The two were cut off by a terrific slamming noise. Mercury and Emerald jumped apart, staring at Neo. She picked up the massive tome _On the History of Remnant_ from the floor, preparing to drop it again. The two Hunters deflated, shrinking back from one another.

            Thank _you. Now that you’re done, let’s talk about this. Going to the police is a last-resort option, and we’re not there yet._

Emerald winced, but nodded.

            _Emerald is right, though. We have no idea what Marcus is up to. We should be going on the offensive, not waiting for him to ambush us again._

“Do you really think we’re in danger at Beacon?” Mercury asked.

            _I know we won’t be at Beacon forever. I’d rather deal with this now than in transit to Atlas._

            Mercury shrugged, conceding the point.

            _There are other contacts, besides the police, that could help us. Marcus killed some of Junior’s men – why don’t we start there? He’s got plenty of reason to help us._

“True.” Emerald said. “All right, let’s get going.”

            “What?”

            _What?_

“We need to deal with this.” Emerald said, looking each of them in the eye in turn. “If this is driving you half as crazy as it’s driving me, you know we need to deal with this, and the sooner the better. Let’s go run this by Cinder – with luck, we can get this done tonight.”

            Mercury motioned for her to slow down. “First of all, you _stole_ from The Club, remember? Junior won’t forget something like that. Secondly, this plan requires us to leave Beacon and wander around Vale. Do you remember what happened the last time we tried that?”

            “I’ll wait on the roof or something. I agree that I shouldn’t talk to him, but I won’t let you run around Vale without me. The Club’s pretty popular, though. I don’t think we need to worry about him ambushing us in that area.”

            “I can’t believe I’m considering this.” Mercury muttered. “Aren’t you supposed to be the sane one?”

            “I’m the one worrying about the assassin trying to kill us.”

            _She’s got a point._

“Fine,” Mercury sighed. “Cinder can tell you what a bad plan this is.”

            _Isn’t she in the middle of sparring?_

“Do you want to spend another day with this hanging over your head? Cinder won’t either. She’ll agree.” Emerald said.

            _You’re doing the talking._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's always fun to write more JNPR. I can't wait to get to the big stuff later in this volume, but there's plenty of time for that. I'll take a moment to shamelessly plug RWBY Chibi, because it is an adorable, much-needed dose of fluff after Volume Three. I'd love to see all of the RWBY cast chibified. Especially Neo. Anyway, next week team CMSN goes to The Club, an action that will do doubt end well for all concerned.


	3. Volume Two, Chapter Three: Allies

Volume One, Chapter Three: Allies

 

 

            “…Continue.”

            “I can’t believe you’re actually considering this.” Mercury said. He was still stumbling when he walked, unused to the added weight of his prosthetics. As such, he leaned against the roof’s door, unwilling to walk further than necessary.

            “Odds are we won’t run into Marcus, you know.” Emerald folded her arms, frowning at Mercury. She’d geared up before they went looking for Cinder, and carried a number of speed-loaders for her revolvers in easily accessible locations. Pyrrha had given her an odd look when they met her on the stairs.

            “That’s not the point, Emerald. Why are we doing this? The last thing we want to do is speed our confrontation with Marcus. Offensive or defensive, we can’t beat him, so we need to stay out of the way. We’re safe at Beacon, and Marcus won’t dare attack multiple Hunter teams when we head to Atlas. Why jeopardize that?”

            “The point, Mercury,” Cinder interjected, “is to gain information that could help us defeat him.” She was sweating hard from her match with Pyrrha, her hair disordered and tangled, but she stood ramrod straight, yellow eyes as piercing as ever.

            “What do you think we’ll get from someone we know is no longer working with Marcus? Whatever he knows, I doubt we’ll be able to act on it. Do you really think it’ll help our readiness?”

            “This isn’t about readiness. The last time we fought Marcus, we needed the police to save us. Ever since then, we’ve been hiding, waiting for him to finish the job. Aren’t you tired of that? We’re supposed to be training to become Hunters. What’s it say about us if we can’t handle a walk in our own city? We’re supposed to be better than this, Mercury.” Cinder gestured to Beacon’s CCTV tower, only visible in the darkness as a set of emerald spheres. “I didn’t come to Beacon to hide behind others. I came here to become stronger. All of us did. We can do this.”

            Mercury sighed. “Fine. Supposing we do this, how are we getting there? None of us have our own vehicles, and it’s past seven. Beacon’s Bullheads don’t run this late.”

            _The club’s within walking distance._ Neo signed. _Going on foot’s probably not the best idea, though._ She twirled her umbrella, excited at the prospect of the trip.

            “Agreed.” Cinder said. “I want to deal with this, but it might be more prudent to wait. Port’s going on a hunt in a few days and leaving us with a substitute teacher. We could visit the Club then.”

            “I’ve got another idea.” Emerald said.

           

            Cinder flew through the air, arms and legs windmilling. She hit the edge of the roof and slid backwards, fingers clawing at the gravel. As she reached the edge, she sank her sword into the roof to the hilt and ground to a stop. After a moment to collect herself, she pulled herself up and onto the rooftop.

            “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Mercury asked, watching from his perch atop an air conditioning unit.

            Emerald elbowed him in the gut. “The first few are always difficult, but you’ll get better. As we get closer to the club, the buildings get more tightly packed, which will also help.”

            Cinder got to her feet, retrieving her sword from the roof with a hard yank. “Let’s get on with it.”

 

 

            Emerald landed on the roof in a graceful roll. Mercury and Cinder arrived on the roof with less grace, with Neo drifting in behind, hanging from her umbrella. Emerald approached the roof’s edge quickly and quietly, motioning for the others to stay back. After a moment, satisfied, she retreated and rejoined her teammates.

            “This is as far as I go, unless you get into trouble. The fire escape over there will get you down to ground level. Have any of you been here before?”

            Neo and Mercury nodded.

            “Actually,” Mercury interjected, “I should probably hang back as well. Junior won’t be too happy to see me, either.”

            “And what did _you_ do to him?”

            “Nothing as crazy as robbing him – ow – I just told him I wouldn’t be working for him again. Ever.”

            _Just the two of us, then?_

“Now those are poor odds. I’d prefer to have an ace up my sleeve. Neo, do you think you could disguise Emerald and Mercury?”

            _Don’t worry. We’ll be fine._

            Neo stepped off the roof, opening her umbrella and drifting downwards. After a moment of stunned silence, Cinder followed, taking the fire escape stairs three at a time. She jumped off the escape and fell the last two stories, arriving in the alley at the same time as Neo.

            “ _What are you doing?”_ Cinder hissed. _“We need a plan.”_

_Watch this._

Neo stepped out of the alley and waved to the suited guard watching the door. The guard did a double-take, then snapped to a much more attentive stance. As Cinder watched from the shadows, Neo strolled up to the door, which the guard opened for her. Neo turned back, beckoning Cinder over. Cinder followed cautiously, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

            “She with you?” The guard asked.

            Neo nodded.

            “Go on in, Ma’am.”

            As they strolled inside, Cinder asked Neo, “What was _that?”_

_I know people._

“…And?”

            They entered a small, dimly lit room. The far wall was entirely frosted glass, with a spotlight fixed on it from the other side. Beyond, the thump of music could be heard. Set into one wall was a window. Apart from a gap at the base, a thick wire cage covered the window and protected the occupant, another one of Junior’s men.

            “Please pass your weapons through to me, they’ll be returned to you when you leave.” The guard intoned, not bothering to glance up from his scroll.

            Neo stepped up to the window and rapped on the cage with her umbrella.

            “Oh! You and your guest can go right on through, Ma’am.”

            He tapped a button and the glass wall split open, sliding soundlessly apart. The noise jumped in volume, loud even at this distance.

            Neo strolled into the Club. Cinder caught up to her halfway down the steps to the dance floor.

            “Explain this.” Cinder said, nearly shouting over the music.

            _My uncle and Junior work together on plenty of stuff. We’ve helped each other out for years, so we get the VIP treatment at his club._

“Why didn’t you mention this sooner?”

            _I wanted to surprise you._

With that, Neo approached the bar.

            “Inform me about this kind of thing! This is important information!”

            _Would it have changed our plan?_

The two Huntresses reached the bar. Across the counter, Hei Xiong passed a drink to a customer and turned in their direction. He broke out into a grin and produced half a dozen bottles from beneath the bar. His hands were in constant motion, pouring, mixing, and shaking, though he kept his eyes on Neo.

            “Neo! It’s good to see you again. Roman with you?”

            Neo shook her head, hopping onto one of the bar’s stools. Cinder opted to stand.

            “Ah well. Tell him to stop by more often, would you? Now, I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before. Got a name?”

            “Cinder.” Cinder said. “We need to talk to you about your henchmen.”

            “Straight to business, huh? Sure I can’t get you something?”

            Junior finished Neo’s drink – a multilayered concoction of chocolate and some pink liquid, separated by a thick band of foam. He slid it to Neo, who began drinking with gusto. He then produced a new glass and began another drink.

            “So, what do you want with my henchmen? You don’t look like my usual clientele.”

            “We’re interested in the ones Marcus Black hired.”

            Junior stopped mixing.

            “You want to run that one by me again?”

            “We know Marcus Black hired henchmen from you, and we know he killed them when it looked like they might be captured by the police. We’re after him for our own reasons. It would be advantageous if we worked together.”

            Junior sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Neo, what’s this got to do with you? What do you want with Marcus?”  
            “He’s killing people. Isn’t that enough?”

            “Try saying that with a straight face, kid. Look, Neo, no offence, but this guy’s bad news. You don’t want to tangle with him. I don’t know what this girl’s getting you into, but you should stay out of it.”

            Cinder leaned across the bar, resting a hand on Junior’s cheek. “Your concern is touching.”

            Junior reached up, pushing her hand away. Cinder pulsed her Semblance, sending a warning spike of heat into his head, and he stopped moving.

            “It’s also unnecessary. What do you know about Marcus Black?”

            Neo’s umbrella hooked around Cinder’s arm, pulling her away from Junior. Cinder rocked slightly, but regained her balance and glared at Neo, who frowned back at her. Neo turned back to Junior, giving him her best beseeching look. He glanced between the two of them, rubbing his cheek with one hand.

            “I get the picture, you’re serious. Fine, enough with the good cop, bad cop act.” Junior grumbled. “I’d ask if Mercury owed you money, but I know he hasn’t got any.”

            “What do you know about Mercury?”

            “Plenty, kid. I know I’d hire him occasionally for extra muscle, but he was always reluctant to take work from me. I know he needed a lot of money for something, and I know that Marcus came to me looking for him. He paid me for information and muscle, and I provided.”

            “You sold him out.” Cinder murmured.

            “He told me he wouldn’t work for me again. I didn’t have any reason to stick my neck out for him, and I didn’t want to antagonize an assassin. It’s a cruel world, kid. I did what I had to.”

            “How did you know we know Mercury?”

            “That one’s easy. One of my men saw both of you with him – and a thief I’m looking for – when Marcus asked me for information on him. Since you’re so keen on dealing with Marcus, and he was so interested in Mercury, I figure they’re related.”

            Someone at the other end of the bar called for Junior. Junior glanced over, held up a finger, then turned to Cinder and Neo again.

            “Looks like duty calls. Sorry, kids.”

            Cinder spoke up as he turned to leave.

            “Marcus’ associates, weapons, hideouts – what do you know? We’re trying to stop him. Our interests align.”

            Junior shook his head.

            “Marcus is bad news. I’m staying well away from him and whatever he’s up to. I don’t know where he is or what he’s up to, and I’m not trying to find out.” He leaned over the bar, speaking softly and urgently. “Neo – do the same. I don’t want my morgue contact to tell me she’s got a Jane Doe with an umbrella. Stay out of this one. You know Roman would say the same.”

            Neo blinked, staring at him in surprise. Junior pushed himself off the counter, hurrying to the other end of the bar and mixing another drink. He didn’t look back. Cinder sighed, slumping into an unoccupied seat.

            “Well, that was a waste of a night.”

            Neo finished her drink, nodding in agreement. Cinder glanced over to her and grimaced. “I hope you’re going to be able to get back to Beacon like that.”

            _It’s nonalcoholic. I’m fine._

            “All right.” Cinder said, getting to her feet. “Let’s go tell Emerald and Mercury we came all this way for nothing.” She didn’t bother hiding the bitterness in her voice. As she stalked away from the bar, she found her path blocked by a pair of girls about her age in expensive, revealing outfits. They wore astonishingly high heels – without them, they would barely be taller than Neo, and with them they were still shorter than Cinder.

            “We hear you’re looking for Marcus.” The red twin said.

            “We’d really appreciate someone teaching him some manners.” The white twin said.

            “I don’t suppose you’re here to volunteer?” Cinder asked.

            “You’re not serious, are you?”

            “He’s real bad news.”

            “And now, like, everyone knows it.”

            “The Xiongs are important.”

            “No-one will want to work with him now.”

            “We don’t know where he is.”

            “But we know he’s, like, on his own.”

            “Didn’t have any friends with him when he hired our men, either.”

            “So if you’re going after him?”

            “Give him one for us.”

            “Good luck.”

            “You should drop by more often, Neo.”

            With that, they departed, flowing into the crowd on the dance floor.

            _Well, we learned something._ Neo signed.

            Cinder sighed. “Let’s just go.”

            As they made their way up the stairs and out of the Club, Cinder nudged Neo.

            “Are you thinking of taking his advice?”

            _Junior’s? Please. I know what I’m doing. I’m not going to go one-on-one with him, I know how that ends._ _He’s a worrier. I can handle myself. Always have._

Cinder nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. Let’s get back to the others.”

           

            The camera feed showed the four students returning to their dormitory. The digital readout in the corner of the screen indicated that it was half an hour to midnight. Ozpin sighed, rubbing his eyes and slumping in his chair as the door shut behind Emerald.

            “They’re back.” Ozpin announced, deactivating the camera with the touch of a key.

            “It’s about time.” Glynda replied, looking up from her scroll. “I don’t know why you haven’t spoken to them about this yet. Mercury especially – he must be waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

            “The situation requires a fine touch, Glynda. Any reassurance I give him will be met with suspicion, worsening the situation. They are taking risks, true, but they are being as prudent as possible. That’s the behavior we strive for. What is there for me to correct?”

            “There is an assassin in Vale hunting one of our students!” Glynda snapped. He has killed six people in the past week, and there are rumors he was involved in the Mistral riots!”

            “I _know._ If he is foolish enough to attack Beacon head-on, I will deal with him. As it is, this is a matter for the police. We are training the next generation of heroes, Glynda. To take away their autonomy now is to wound them. We have thrown them into the Emerald Forest. They survived. All we can do is trust that they will survive this too. Intervening, sending Oobleck or Port to watch over them on their excursions, would be counterproductive. We must give them freedom to attempt and risk, with the danger that implies.”

            Glynda set down her scroll with a thump. “What happens when they fail, Professor?”

            “Have a little faith, Glynda. I suspect they will not fail so easily. They are determined, capable Hunters. I think it will be enough.”

            “And if you’re wrong?”

            “They will be dead. Through my inaction.”

            “How do you learn to live with that?”

            “I hope you never have to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evening folks, and welcome to CMSN, where the background and secondary characters are important, and the primary characters have yet to show up! This chapter was a fun one to write, largely because it took on a life of its own halfway through. What you see before you bears little resemblance to the original draft. I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you back here next week.


	4. Volume Two, Chapter Four: Strength

Volume Two, Chapter Four: Strength

 

Cinder retreated, bow slung over her shoulder. Her hands moved in short jerks, spitting blasts of fire at her enemies. She clutched a chunk of Dust in each hand, but her attacks were still growing weaker. Her Semblance required more Aura than she was willing to devote, with danger so close. She clenched her fists tighter, the crude cuts of the crystal digging into her palms. Smoke wafted through the air, choking and stinging. Blinking the haze out of her eyes, Cinder kept her eyes on her foes. They advanced, keeping their heavy shields up, protecting themselves from the worst of her attacks.

An explosion sounded from behind her. Cinder couldn’t turn her head to look, but Emerald’s pained gasp told her what she needed to know. She abandoned all but the most cursory of defenses, channeling her Aura into the Dust, conjuring a wall of fire to separate her from her opponents. The flames roared, superheated, quick to extinguish themselves. For the time being, though, they stretched across the battlefield, three meters tall. Cinder took the opportunity, retreating to face the new threat.

As she turned, Dust crystals crumbling to nothing in her hands, she drew her bow, nocking an arrow. Through the smoke, she saw what remained of her team: Emerald down, unmoving. Mercury and Neo, back to back against their opponents. As she drew back her bow, Mercury’s opponent swung. He ducked below the strike without difficulty, but Neo never saw it coming. The blow stuck her in the back, sending her flying into a wall. Cinder released her arrow, bringing the attacker down. Mercury took advantage of the opening, striking his fallen foe and ensuring she wouldn’t rise again.

Cinder turned back to her battle, where the flames were already dying out. Her opponents charged across the flickering embers, swords and shields at the ready. Cinder knew better than to face them in melee, so she retreated, snapping off Dust-enhanced shots from her bow as she strode backwards. The first enemy fell, blown off his feet by run-of-the-mill explosive Dust. The second charged forward, dodging her shots – sometimes by inches – or deflecting them with her shield.

Cinder backed into a wall. With no options left, she split her bow, readying her blades. She attacked, thrusting forwards in a perfect lunge. Her opponent dropped into a slide, the tip of Cinder’s blade passing just over her head. She slammed into Cinder’s legs, unbalancing her, and flipped to her feet as Cinder struggled to regain her footing. This close, Cinder’s longer, curved blades were of little help against the shortsword and small shield of her foe. She stabbed Cinder in the chest, flicked her sword away from Cinder’s parry, and cracked her over the head with the hilt of her sword.

The blow all but eliminated what little Aura Cinder retained. She slumped to the ground, the buzzer confirming what Cinder already knew. She didn’t watch the remainder of the match – while Mercury could defeat Ren, handling Ren and Pyrrha was another matter altogether. Before long, the buzzer sounded. Unbidden, her fists clenched and her teeth curled. _Weakness._

The rest of her team were picking themselves off the floor, exchanging respectful nods and words of advice with Team Juniper. Cinder stowed her weapons, fingers patting the pouches at her waist where she kept her Dust. They had been emptying with annoying speed, and this latest exercise had all but depleted her reserves. Putting the matter out of her mind, Cinder made her way to her fellow students.

“Nora’s grenades can flush you out, illusions or no illusions.” Glynda was saying, motioning with her crop. “Find a way to deal with them, or she’ll stop your ambushes before they begin. Miss Fall.”

“Yes?” Cinder asked, careful to conceal her frustration with this latest loss.

“You showed admirable skill, but fighting Mister Arc and Miss Nikos on your own is a losing proposition. Do not allow them to bait you out of formation.”

Cinder nodded. Next time, she would do better. Next time, she would not fail. _Isn’t that what I promised myself after my sparring match with Pyrrha?_ A traitorous thought whispered. She ignored it. _Next time, I will be better._

 

After class, Cinder accessed her box of Dust crystals from her locker. She’d been skeptical of the concept, but being able to summon her Dust reserves to anywhere in and around campus was just too useful to pass up. As such, she’d spent an evening padding and wrapping the box and the interior of the locker before fusing her Dust case to the locker’s rear wall. There was no point in calling a locker of Dust to her position if it would just detonate on impact, after all. Not unless she could do so deliberately, anyway. She discarded the thought – she wasn’t Nora. Precision lead to victory.

Cinder melted the solder holding the case closed with a moment’s concentration. She opened the case, casting a baleful eye on the contents. While she had yet to deplete the reserves she’d acquired from her foray at the start of the year, she’d been supplementing them with the Dust Beacon provided. As Cinder understood it, the Schnee Dust Company had been reducing the Dust they supplied to the Hunter academies in favor of enhancing Atlas technology. Whatever the reason, the Dust she received from Beacon, especially as a first-year student, was flawed and inferior to Schnee quality.

Not that the crystals she’d pilfered from that store had been that much better, she reflected. There were competing Dust suppliers – the market was astonishingly lucrative – but no-one possessed the quantity or refinement capability of the SDC.

With a decisive snap, Cinder closed her case. She would not lose her next fight, and that meant she needed better gear – better Dust. Beacon couldn’t provide what she needed. Happily, she knew of alternatives.

 

The remainder of the day passed without incident, and before long Cinder was eating dinner, idly listening to her teammates make conversation.

“I’m just saying, it’s a poor layout. The safe’s in a room with nice big windows. I would have been in and out with no one the wiser if one of the guards hadn’t picked the wrong moment to walk in.”

_One guard? Surely you could handle him._ Neo teased, elbowing Emerald.

“One guard carrying a half dozen bottles of expensive booze. He dropped them, and that was that.” Emerald grumbled.

_So_ that _was why he was so grumpy that time. I wondered._

“You worked for Junior? He never put us on a job together, did he?” Mercury asked.

_I wasn’t part of his brute squad. He’s a friend of my uncle._

Cinder blinked, attention drifting back to the conversation. Partly out of a desire to respect her privacy and mostly out of a lack of time, she’d never taken the time to find out how Cardin had managed to so effectively get under Neo’s skin in their weapon maintenance class. She remembered the name – Torchwick, the same last name as Neo – but she couldn’t recall where she’d heard it before.

“You mentioned that before.” Cinder said, entering the conversation. “Is your uncle a Huntsman?

For a fraction of a second, Neo paused. Then she was signing again, any hesitation gone. _Kind of. He doesn’t do much anymore, but he used to go on regular trips, escorting cargo between cities and kingdoms. Securing overland routes. That kind of thing._ Neo signed “overland”, spelled it out, signed it again, then finished her sentence. Cinder filed the sign away with the others, rehearsing the motions mentally until she was sure she could recognize it again.

At the same time, she was chewing over Neo’s words. What went unspoken – but she suspected all four of them understood – was that most freight was shipped by train or airship. In both cases, by the time a Huntsman was capable of fending off the Grimm, it was already too late. Perhaps the Grimm that derailed the train or downed the airship could be slain, but then the passengers would be stranded between cities, surrounded by Grimm. In the end, the Huntsman would make little difference

Any other methods of transport – trucks laden with crates, backpacks bulging with supplies and goods, small boats with powerful engines – were reserved for contraband. Illegal cargo – Dust crystals, narcotics, some weapons, valuables. Junior would, therefore, have a hand in such enterprises. Cinder was still just as baffled by the intensity of Neo’s reaction, but now she had an idea of what prompted it, at least.

“So, what did you think of Oobleck’s test?” Emerald asked, and the conversation shifted again. Cinder’s attention drifted again. She ate, making small responses when necessary, and finished her meal before long. Cinder stood, collecting her glass and utensils.

“Are you coming to the movie night?” Emerald asked. “Juniper’s running a Spruce Willis marathon.”

“When is that?” Cinder asked, calculating travel times.

“It starts around eight.” Mercury said. “It’s the weekend, so we’ll go until we run out of movies.”

“I’ll pass.” Cinder said, “But thank you for the offer.”

 

Social norms satisfied, Cinder departed. Even assuming their marathon lasted no later than midnight, their dorm would be unoccupied for hours yet. She had more than enough time. First, she stopped by her room to collect a nondescript duffel bag. Then, she departed Beacon, making her way into Vale.

Like her last trip into Vale, Beacon’s Bullheads were no longer running. She took the rooftops instead, learning how to navigate the skylights and fire escapes and loose gutters of Vale’s rooftops. She was no Emerald, but by the time she arrived at her destination, she’d gone three minutes without so much as a stumble. Cinder skidded to a stop, throwing up a small spray of gravel. From her perch on the other side of the street, she observed the warehouse.

She’d noticed the structure when she first arrived in Vale. Cinder made a point of walking through the city, looking for interesting buildings such as this. The warehouse belonged to Dust-Up, one of Vale’s major dust companies. “Major” was, of course, a relative term. They possessed no presence outside the kingdom, in sharp contrast to larger corporations like the SDC. Their Dust was still leagues better than her current stock. It was, therefore, better guarded.

From her position on the roof, Cinder located five guards. One paced out a patrol on the roof, another on the ground. Two more guarded the door, and a final guard paced by a window at regular intervals.

Cinder opened her duffel bag. From within, she withdrew a set of black clothes. They were synthetic, difficult to cut or tear, and would prevent her from leaving fingerprints behind. She’d been forced to reduce its coverage after the first time she fought in it and overheated herself. Even with her innate heat resistance, a full suit was too much. Cinder donned a mask, the final part of the outfit. With her identity concealed, she was ready to begin.

The warehouse squatted between two empty plots of land, making a rooftop approach impossible. That was the idea, anyway. Cinder took careful aim at the guard patrolling the roof. As he turned to face her, she let an arrow fly. It whistled over the heads of the guards watching the warehouse door and struck him square in the stomach. Although she had removed the razor tip, the arrow still knocked him to the ground, punching the air from his lungs.

Immediately, Cinder drew and fired a second arrow, this one with a rope attached to the end. It sailed across the street, lodging in the warehouse’s roof. Cinder rammed an arrow through the other end, anchoring it to her roof, then stepped onto the rope. Ordinarily, of course, such a feat would never work. The arrow would tear free of the roof, or the rope would pull free of the arrow, or she would fall, and her heist would be over.

Aura allowed her to cheat.

As Cinder ran across the thin rope, arms extended for balance, she channeled her Aura into the rope and arrows, keeping them anchored in their buildings and sturdy enough to take her weight. Cinder reached the other side as the rooftop guard’s pained wheezings became audible. A quick strike knocked him unconscious, and she retrieved her blunted arrow.

From there, it was a simple matter to open and enter a third story window. The guards inside the warehouse were not expecting trouble. Finding and subduing the three of them was child’s play. Cinder cracked open a crate stamped with a flame and allowed herself a smile. She then unzipped her duffel and began packing it with crystals and powder.

She pilfered Dust from half a dozen crates before her duffel was packed. Closing the final crate, she returned to the window she entered through and stepped out, reaching up and around to grasp the edge of the roof and pull herself up. The walk back across the rope was much more difficult. Cinder paced forward, sweating and shaking with the effort of maintaining her Aura on such a large area. Finally, she reached the other side. Cinder collapsed off the rope, landing in a heap on the rooftop, and safety. After a moment to collect herself, Cinder grasped the rope and activated her Semblance, burning it to ashes. The arrow was off-the-shelf, and she’d taken care not to touch it with bare hands. It would yield nothing.

 

Crossing rooftops with a bag of Dust was considerably more difficult, to say nothing of the consequences should she take a nasty fall, but Cinder arrived back at her dorm by one in the morning, intact and unexploded. She opened the door to her room with a sigh of relief, swapping her duffel to her other hand as she crossed the threshold. Cinder made her way to the closet and replaced her bag, grunting and flaring her Aura to get it to the high shelf. She’d have to be discrete about moving the Dust from her bag to her case, but it shouldn’t present much of a challenge. Allowing herself a moment of triumph, she opened the bag and removed a crystal. It was a pale white, almost lacking in impurities, and perhaps half the size of her fist.

Satisfied, Cinder replaced the crystal and began to remove her outfit. She’d removed the mask almost immediately after her heist, of course, but had neglected to change back to her typical dress. As she tugged the gloves off, someone began to clap.

Cinder spun around, drawing her weapons. The room was dark – too dark. She conjured a ball of flame, keeping her hand between it and her to avoid being blinded. The flickering light illuminated Neo, sitting crosslegged on her bed.

Cinder opened her mouth, searching for explanations. There weren’t any. She settled on “How did you know?”

_I had a hunch after the last time you mysteriously vanished. When I couldn’t find you around campus, I waited._

“This is nothing, compared to Mercury.”

Neo shrugged. _Mercury had a good reason. What’s yours?_

“I _need_ this, Neo.” Cinder said. “You know what we’re up against.”

_You’re taking risks._

“I’m the team leader, and it’s time you remembered that.” Cinder snapped. “I decide what risks are necessary. This Dust could save our lives.”

Neo nodded. _Your call._

“Good. Let’s get some sleep.”

Neo turned away, pulling the blankets over herself. Cinder let the flame die, and moved by memory to her own bed. She lay down, waiting for sleep.

_Could I have handled that better?_

_I need to be the best leader I can be. All of them need me at my best. This has to be done._

The knowledge was less comforting than she imagined. Eventually, Cinder slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down! You'll notice I'm trying something new with the formatting here. While I prefer indenting my paragraphs, AO3 is not good at doing that, and I'm getting tired of wrestling with it. So, this chapter lacks indents. If my indentless paragraphs don't bring about the apocalypse, I might make it a regular thing, because it is nice to just paste the text in and be done. That's about it for this one, but I've got big plans for next chapter. Stay tuned.


	5. Volume Two, Chapter Five: Bad Blood

Volume Two, Chapter Five: Bad Blood

 

They met at two AM, when the streets were silent and still. The alley they picked was dirty, damp, and unoccupied. A streetlight cast a pale light down the gap between the buildings, giving enough illumination to avoid bumping into the walls. When he arrived, three minutes early and mouth still tasting of the bitter coffee he’d drank half an hour before, the others were waiting for him. The first stepped into his path before he was ten steps down the alley, and although he did not turn around he heard another moving to block the alley entrance.

“Name?” the silhouette before him asked.

He swallowed, throat dry. He’d been expecting this, but it was no less nervewracking.

“Spider.”

“You have it?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I am Adam. Behind you is Otter. Behind me is Eagle. Understand?”

He glanced behind him, peripheral vision ruined by his mask. Otter stood a few feet back from the alley entrance, watching the road for any movement. He was thin with unkempt, shoulder-length hair. His hand beat a constant tattoo on his large, heavy metal suitcase. Turning back to Adam, night vision already recovered from the light outside, he could make out Adam and Eagle more clearly. Adam wore a trench coat that nearly, but not quite, concealed the sword at his side. Eagle perched on a dumpster behind him, fiddling with the contents of a duffel bag on her lap. The traces of red on the edges of their masks gave a clear indication of their status.

He’d been told the name he would give and the ones he should expect in return when he was first informed about this heist, two months ago now. Using their real names would be foolish, regardless of the fact that they were in an isolated alley. There was no point in taking risks. Adam, of course, was notorious enough that there was no way to conceal his identity and maintain his effectiveness. His weapon was far too distinctive.

“We’re ready.” Adam announced. “Let’s go.”

Adam lead the group, one hand on his sword at all times. They didn’t have far to go, but his meandering route, keeping to side streets, alleys, and underpasses, took a long time to bring them to their destination. Eagle stuck to the back of the group, scanning the streets behind them. Otter kept pace with Spider, appearing perfectly at ease. Spider focused on the walk, and tried not to think about the contents of his backpack.

Before long, they had arrived. In contrast to the lavish front of the building, the freight door at the back was plain and ordinary. The wide, metal garage door and parked trucks could have belonged to any number of buildings. The high, chain-link fence tipped with razor wire, watched by cameras and humming with electricity was more unusual, as was the keypad mounted by the door.

Without breaking stride, Adam approached the fence, ignoring the cameras. He dropped both hands to his sword, paused for a second, and cut a massive semicircle out of the fence, sheathing his sword in the same motion. The severed section teetered for a moment, then fell outwards into Adam’s hands. Otter was the first one through, a pair of long knives clutched in his hands. Spider followed, cringing in on himself to be sure he avoided touching the edges of the fence. Eagle was next and Adam was last, making sure to prop the section of fence in place behind him. It wouldn’t stand up to a close inspection, but it wasn’t obvious something was wrong.

Eagle tossed her duffel up to the roof of a truck and jumped after it. Her jump carried her four feet straight up, and she grabbed hold of the top of the roof and pulled herself up. She withdrew a rifle from her bag, loaded it with quick, practiced motions, and sighted towards the gate.

Adam motioned to the others from the building’s entrance. After a moment’s thought, he punched an eight-digit sequence into the door’s keypad. The door hissed and slid upwards, allowing them entrance into the building.

Inside, everything was white, sterile, and sanitized. The Schnee snowflake was spread across every available wall and window. The footsteps of the three White Fang echoed through the empty hallways. They moved quickly, Adam pausing only at intersections to check for guards before continuing on. He strode forward, one hand on his sword at all times. Spider followed, eyes darting around, taking care to step quietly. Otter brought up the rear, walking smoothly backwards and keeping watch behind them. In what seemed like many hours, but was only minutes, they came to another door.

This door, a massive construction of steel, was accompanied by a keypad and keycard reader. Without breaking stride, Adam produced a keycard from somewhere within his coat and inserted it into the door, then tapped out a long sequence into the keypad. The door did not budge. As Spider drew breath, unsure of what to say but desperate to break the silence, the door slid open. Adam stepped into the room, glanced around, then motioned Spider in. Otter followed, eyes still fixed on the corridor behind them.

Spider, on the other hand, couldn’t keep his eyes off the room’s contents. Glowing tubes of Dust were arranged with geometric precision atop gleaming white countertops. Uncut Dust crystals the size of his forearm caught the light in a dizzying spectrum of colors. In the center of it all a circular table was stacked high with half a dozen heavy steel suitcases, each marked with the Schnee snowflake.

Adam grasped one of them, flicked open the clasp, and opened it. Inside, packed into molded foam, were dozens of top-quality Dust crystals. Satisfied, he clicked the case shut and hoisted it off the table. Moving quickly, he cleared the table completely.

Spider stepped forward, sweat beading on his brow. He opened his backpack and removed the device he’d spent the last two months assembling. It was a crude thing, cobbled together from spare electronics, cheap parts, and other bits and pieces, but the core was Dust of very high potency.

Rigging it to explode on command had not been difficult.

Carefully, reverentially, Spider placed the bomb on the vacated table.

“Ten minutes.” Adam said.

Nodding, Spider fiddled with the controls and set the timer. The bomb gave off a confirming beep and went silent.

Spider backed away from the table, glancing at the exit, but Otter stepped into his path.

“We need the Dust.” He said. “Grab two cases.”

Suiting action to words, Otter sheathed his knives and hefted a pair of the Dust cases. Adam took two more, and Spider picked up the last ones. Dust itself wasn’t that heavy, but the reinforced metal of the cases added a great deal of weight. He tried not to stagger as they hauled the Dust back the way they came. Mentally, Spider counted down the time remaining on the timer.

Now they were leaving, it seemed that every footstep would summon a guard, every corner held an ambush. Spider tried to hurry and lag behind simultaneously, accomplishing neither. His heart hammered in his chest and sweat dripped into his eyes, but he continued forward, following Adam through the maze of corridors. After what seemed like far too long, they emerged back at the freight dock. Eagle remained where they had left her, watching the gate for threats.

Adam dropped his cases by Eagle’s truck and moved to the gate. Otter discarded his as well, drawing a knife and getting to work on the lock that held the truck’s cargo box shut. In just moments, he pried the lock off the box and opened it up. Spider, still counting down the minutes until the bomb would go off, hurried to help him load the truck, passing the cases into the interior.

A squeal of metal on metal from the gate made him fumble the last case, nearly dropping it. Otter grabbed hold of it and he recovered, stowing it in the truck. Once it was stowed, he glanced over to the gate. Adam had cut through the various mechanisms designed to keep it locked in place and was now forcing the gates open.

Eagle dropped to the ground next to Spider, rifle already stowed in her duffel. She clapped him on the shoulder and, with a hand from Otter, stepped into the back of the truck. Spider moved to follow her, but Adam called to him: “Spider! You ride up front.”

With no other option, he stepped back and let Eagle and Otter close the doors.

“I’m driving.” Adam added.

They got in the cab of the truck, and Adam slammed the gas down, not waiting for Spider to fasten his seatbelt. The acceleration slammed him back into the seat, as Adam spun the wheel and accelerated away from the Schnee Dust Company Processing Plant.

For the next few minutes, Adam drove through Vale’s quiet streets, never dipping below the speed limit. As they rounded a sharp corner, a resounding boom, like cannon-fire, echoed in the distance. It was immediately followed by a number of shorter, smaller explosions, gradually petering off.

Adam pulled the truck into a parking space and killed the engine. He produced a scroll, fiddled with it for a moment, then replaced it.

“We can’t take the truck any farther.” He said. “Our next ride will be here soon.”

Spider nodded. Unbidden, a massive grin stretched across his lips. They’d actually done it. He twisted in his seat, trying to get a look at the damage. Sirens were beginning to wail, cutting through the night. He was jolted out of his revere when Adam nudged him. He turned, opening his mouth to ask something, but that was thoroughly disrupted by what Adam held in his hand: A simple white mask, full-face, with the slightest trace of red around the edges.

“You earned it. Good work.” Duty satisfied, Adam pressed it into his hand and returned to watching traffic. Spider remained fixed on the mask, grinning broadly. After a minute, he twisted away from Adam, pulled his old, white-only mask off and replaced it with the new one. Today had been a _good_ day.

 

_“…This marks the second violent clash between White Fang members and the Schnee Dust Company this month. Although the refinery the White Fang destroyed had recently made a major shipment, and contained relatively little Dust, it is still an unmistakable slap in the face for the Dust giant. Despite attempts by CEO Weiss Schnee to mend bridges with the faunus community, the SDC remains one of the White Fang’s favorite targets, and this latest attack leads many to question the wisdom of Schnee’s olive branch. Cassandra Salt, leading social analyst, had this to say…”_

Neo’s scroll chimed. Glad of the distraction, she retrieved it from her pocket and accessed her messages.

 

**Uncle Roman:** Hey, kiddo. How’s it going?

Neo sighed.

:(

**Uncle Roman:** I know, it sucks. Don’t worry, I’ve got an alibi. I’m not just talking about the news, though.

?

**Uncle Roman:** Junior called me last night.

:]

**Uncle Roman:** About you, you troublemaker. He wanted me to “talk to that kid of yours before she gets into any more trouble.” What are you up to?

0 :)

**Uncle Roman:** …Drugs? Murder? Drug murder?

DX

**Uncle Roman:** Had to ask. I know you can look after yourself, and I know Junior’s a pessimist. He’s still right irritatingly often.

>:\

**Uncle Roman:** All I’m asking is to be careful, okay? No need to go trying to impress me.

:P

**Uncle Roman:** I already am. Stay safe, kiddo.

<3

**Uncle Roman:** <3

 

With a smile, Neo closed her scroll. At the same time, the news segment ended, and Mercury turned the television off.

“Who was that?” Emerald asked.

_My uncle was checking in, letting me know he’s okay._

“Does that have to do with…” Emerald trailed off, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the Schnee refinery.

_We’ve got some bad blood with the White Fang._

Emerald nodded, leaving the matter there.

“Well, Ozpin doesn’t seem to have noticed all the excitement.” Mercury said, paging through his scroll. “No days off, no nothing. Port’s still scheduled to leave on his hunt and stick us with a substitute.”

“Are you complaining?” Cinder asked.

“Well…”

“I’m sure Oobleck will have a lecture about it.” Emerald sighed. She flopped back onto the dorm’s couch. “Hey, prom’s coming up! Perfect to take our minds off things.”

“Ugh, spare me.” Mercury groaned. “Pyrrha and Jaune are going to be tiptoeing around each other all night. It’s bad enough on a day-to-day basis, and I don’t even room with them!”

“I think you’re just jealous.” Emerald teased.

“That is vile slander, Sustrai, and I will not tolerate another word of it.”

_Are you sure? I think you and Emerald would-_

“Hey!” They chorused simultaneously.

As the four of them continued the time-honored tradition of friendly bantering, the news broadcast faded from their minds. They didn’t forget, but there would be other times to deal with it. Here and now, they were – however briefly – just children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Things have gotten rather hectic, but I will be continuing to do my best to produce weekly updates. In this one, we get a glimpse at what the wider roleswapped world looks like, and add another member to CMSN's rogues' gallery. I'm looking forward to the next few chapters, but we'll get there in due time. For now, I can add the Wikipedia "List of Emoticons" page to the number of places I get help writing from. See you next time!


	6. Volume Two, Chapter Six: Live a Little

Volume Two, Chapter Six: Live a little

 

            Thread & Needle advertised themselves as designing suits and dresses “For the capable and fashionable individual.” What this translated to was a wide array of formal wear designed to stand up to rough conditions. Junior’s men, for example, ordered from the store in bulk. As Aura made the protective qualities of armor largely irrelevant, Huntsmen and others expecting combat tended to favor clothing that allowed unrestricted movement. Thread & Needle’s work, therefore, was designed to restrict and confine as little as possible. More expensive formal wear contained a number of hidden pockets with which to conceal a wide variety of items, and for exorbitant sums they would weave Dust into an article of clothing. For those with more modest budgets, they offered a number of rental and affordable outfits.

            Emerald stepped out of one of Thread & Needle’s dressing rooms, wearing a backless, deep green dress. She still wore her revolvers in her holster, compressing the fabric around her hips. Pyrrha, Cinder, and Nora glanced up from the clothing they were browsing through as she exited.

            “So, what do you think?” Emerald asked.

            “Eh.” Mercury commented, leaning against another of the dressing rooms. He’d gone unnoticed by Emerald until then.

            “Not you!”

            Emerald kicked at Mercury, who grinned and stepped back, letting the kick miss him by inches. Unlike the others, who were dressed formally, Mercury wore his typical jacket and pants.

            “It looks _great_ , Emerald.” Pyrrha assured her, frowning at Mercury.

            “Aren’t you supposed to be helping Neo?” Emerald asked Mercury.

            The Huntsman-in-training grinned and shook his head. “She decided she was done picking out accessories. Didn’t want me crowding up the front.” He shrugged. “Besides, we’ve been here for _hours._ I was bored.”

            “Didn’t you rent your suit already?” Nora asked.

            “Flee, you poor fool.” Pyrrha deadpanned, looking quite uncomfortable without her armor and weapons at hand.

            Mercury chuckled. “Oh, well, you know…”

            “He lost a bet.” Cinder cut in smoothly, “So he’s stuck here.”

            Mercury shot Cinder a brief grateful look before turning back to team Juniper. As he kept the room’s attention, she drew her scroll from a pocket and contacted Neo.

            _Still no sign of him?_ She typed.

            _Nope._ Neo replied.

_We should wrap this up. If he hasn’t attacked yet, I doubt he will, but we should be careful._

_You’re the boss._

            Pocketing her scroll again, Cinder turned to the others. “If Neo’s finished picking out her items, then we’ve got everything we need. Are you all ready to go? We should hurry if we want to be back in time to help set up for prom.”

            “Sounds good.” Mercury said, strolling towards another part of the store. “I’ll go round up the others.”

 

            After a few minutes to get changed, the group reentered the main part of the store, weaving around elegant mannequins as they headed for the front. They were joined by Mercury, Ren, and Jaune, all carrying bags with their purchases. Neo joined them as everyone but Cinder and Neo, who declined to upgrade their wardrobes, made their purchases. Neo made eye contact with her teammates, shaking her head.

            As they left the store, Ren and Nora bantered about whether or not silly string was an acceptable decoration for the prom. Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo shifted closer together. Emerald had changed back into her street clothes, and the four of them formed a rough diamond behind the others.

            Cinder took the front, eyes scanning the sidewalk ahead. Behind her and to her left, Mercury watched the far side of the road. Next to him, Emerald eyed the people passing them on the sidewalk. Finally, behind the others, Neo watched the rooftops and the civilians strolling behind them. They maintained this formation all the way to the Beacon Bullhead.

            Only once they were in the air did team Crimson relax. The Bullhead’s doors closed on the afternoon sunshine as the transport soared back to Beacon. Inside the Bullhead, the banter Ren and Nora had maintained for the last ten minutes died down. After a moment of awkward silence, Pyrrha spoke up.

            “What’s going on? I can tell you’re all on edge.”

            The team exchanged glances, all eyes settling on Cinder.

            “The last time we were in Vale,” Cinder began, “We ran into some trouble. We just want to be sure it won’t happen again.”

            “Of course.” Pyrrha said, nodding. “I understand.”

            “Don’t worry.” Nora added. “The eight of us can handle anything!” She waved her hammer for emphasis, just missing Mercury.

            “Say, Neo,” Jaune began, changing the subject, “You didn’t buy anything back there. Wasn’t there something that struck your fancy?”

            Neo smiled, rising from her seat in the Bullhead. She stepped into the middle of the aircraft, activating her Semblance. A wave of color washed over her, from her feet to her head, and when it was gone she was different.

            Her jacket and corset had become a suit jacket and vest. Her boots were now heels, and her hair swept towards her right, almost covering her eye. The colors of her outfit, however, hadn’t changed in the slightest. She blinked, eye colors cycling, and took a bow before returning to her seat and letting the illusion fade.

            After a moment of silence, Jaune spoke up:

            “That is _so_ not fair.”

           

            With the mood lightened, the remainder of the trip was spend swapping jokes and stories – “I didn’t scream _that_ loudly!” “We heard it all the way by the relics.” – and they arrived at Beacon before they knew it.

            “You’re helping us get everything set up for prom, right?” Pyrrha asked Cinder as they disembarked.

            “That’s right. We’ll drop our bags off in our room, pick up some supplies, and meet you there.” She replied.

            “See you there!” Nora chirped.

 

            Cinder and her team entered their room, tossing their Thread & Needle bags into unoccupied corners of the room, and then continued to discard items.

            Cinder replaced a handful of Dust crystals in their protective cases, then did the same with her Dust-tipped arrows. Emerald replaced her Dust rounds with standard bullets, as did Mercury. Neo, the only one not carrying an unusual amount of firepower, sat on her bed, waiting for them to finish. When they were done, she signed: _I wish we didn’t have to get them involved._

“It was a long shot anyway.” Cinder said. “Even if he knew we were in the store, Marcus was unlikely to attack it in broad daylight.”

            “Even so,” Emerald said, “We were putting JNPR in danger.”

            “Not much,” Mercury countered. “Cinder had a good plan. It worked, didn’t it?”

            _True. Let’s try to avoid it in future, though._

“If we all had formal wear on hand, or another good reason not to go, we could avoid the engagement entirely.” Cinder said. “As it stands, this was the best plan. Now that we know it works, we may need to resort to it again.” After a moment she added “…Not unless we have to, of course.”

            _Thanks._

“Well, with that out of the way,” Mercury said, “Shall we go perform menial labor?”

           "It's prom, Mercury. We're expected to contribute."

           "All I'm saying is that we could claim to be sick and never have to help."

 

            The alley was very clean. Marcus had expected refuse and squalor, but there was none to be found. Perhaps he was deeper into White Fang territory than he believed. At the higher levels, “helping the faunus population” tended to manifest as bombs and attacks on important targets (The refinery attack had caused a very irritating spike in police presence) but the rank-and-file were fed, paid, and housed. Not well, of course, but it got them off the streets and into a job. One that they couldn’t quit, and would destroy their career prospects elsewhere anyway, but a job nonetheless.

            At the agreed-upon time, several White Fang stepped into the opposite end of the alley. After a moment, Marcus recognized them as the ones he’d fought, when he first came to the White Fang for information. Their commander was no doubt displeased with how they handled that situation, and giving them an unpleasant job in retaliation. Alternatively, he reflected, they could be short-staffed, and he was reading too much into it.

            Putting aside those thoughts for now, Marcus stepped forward. Their weapons rose, but not all the way. “You have it?” He asked.

            “Yes.” Their leader replied laconically.

            She withdrew a scroll from a pocket with one hand. The other held a pistol, not pointed at him, but drawn and ready to be used. She tossed it to him, a gentle underhand. Keeping his eyes on her, Marcus caught it.

            “Information on the three you asked for.” She said. It wasn’t hard to detect the anger bubbling under the surface. Perhaps he wasn’t overthinking the situation after all.

            “And the payment?” Marcus asked, as innocent as possible. “No concrete figure was ever mentioned. I have sufficient funds on me to pay any reasonable price.”

            “Keep the scroll. We’ll call you.” He couldn’t tell if she was smiling, under the mask, but she definitely sounded more pleased.

            “I’d prefer to pay cash. Here and now.”

            “Sorry.” With that, the White Fang were gone. Marcus stood alone in the alley. He had the information he wanted, and he owed the White Fang a favor. “Damn.” He muttered.

           

            Getting back to his safehouse took nearly two hours, far longer than it would have before the police crackdown, and by then the sunset was blazing across the sky. Marcus poured himself a mug of coffee from the remains of the pot he’d made yesterday, grabbed a fistful of protein bars scattered across the kitchen counter, and made his way to his desk.

            First things first – The scroll he’d gotten was hooked up to a disposable laptop, equipped with state-of-the-art antivirus software. The laptop, in turn, stole its wireless connection from the house next door. While the laptop inspected the scroll, he began to methodically chew the protein bars, occasionally washing them down with a swig of coffee. After a moment to verify the scroll was not a trap, he turned his attention to the contents.

            The file on the green-haired illusionist was very thorough. There were reports of petty thefts by someone roughly matching her appearance dating back almost a decade, meaning she’d either started very young or looked younger than she was. Or both. The theft reports became increasingly sporadic until they stopped altogether: the last recorded claim was five years ago and three cities over. Last but one, Marcus corrected himself – The Club claimed someone matching her description had pickpocketed some of their guests and fled. Reading between the lines, he could guess that she’d worked for Junior, until they’d had a falling-out. Junior manufactured a complaint to get her taken in, but she had evaded them. No doubt her Semblance had helped with that.

            The file on the other illusionist, the short girl in white, was shorter. She had a name, at least – Neopolitan Torchwick. Even better, he recognized that name. Torchwick might be a has-been these days, but Marcus didn’t want to get under his skin if he didn’t have to. The White Fang had acquired an adoption form, which he scanned briefly. Neopolitan was an orphan, adopted by Roman in Mistral over a decade ago. He paused, reread the section, confirmed the date. The corner of his mouth twitched upward. He wasn’t sure how the information would be useful, but it couldn’t hurt to know.

            Finally, the file on the pyromancer. This one, the briefest of the three, had no useful information. All they knew is that no one matching her description appeared any police report they could find.

            Closing the file, Marcus noticed one more in the scroll’s memory. He opened it and found a brief note:

            _Apologies we couldn’t turn up more. One more thing: The police report of your fight with these individuals glosses over their presence. They were given a brief questioning, then released. I don’t have access to the full report, but that behavior, combined with the skill you said they display, leads me to believe they’re Beacon Academy students._

Marcus closed the file and sat back in his chair. Forgotten, his coffee began to congeal. After a few minutes, he spoke: “My son, a Huntsman.” He let out a humorless chuckle and closed the laptop.

 

            The next day, a slow stream of students filed into Port’s classroom. The Huntsman was away on a hunt, and class attendance was consequentially at an all-time low. Neo could see Pyrrha, Ren, and Cinder in the audience, but the rest of her friends had decided to sleep in.

            Stifling a yawn, she wrenched her attention away from the bed she could be sleeping in at this moment and back to the blueprint in front of her. She’d continued to work on her weapon in fits and spurts, and now the modifications were approaching completion. The substitute probably didn’t have any worthwhile insight to offer her, but there was no harm in trying.

            As she corrected a measurement, the hubbub of her fellow students died down. Putting her pencil aside, Neo glanced up to see Port’s substitute.

            She was younger than Neo expected, with shoulder-length brown hair. Something about her clothing, perhaps the mix of cloth and armor, brought Pyrrha’s outfit to mind, although she dressed in browns where Pyrrha wore red. The substitute walked to the front of the classroom, a heavy, Dust-crystal tipped staff in one hand. As she made her way in front of Port’s desk, Neo saw that the staff housed Dust crystals at both ends – one red, one white. Turning her head, she saw Cinder eyeing the weapon very intently.

            “My name is Amber.” The substitute said. “I’ll be replacing Professor Port until he returns from his mission. Are you ready to begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evening, folks, and welcome to CMSN, where the background and secondary characters are important, and the primary characters have yet to show up! Bringing Amber back wasn't something that occurred to me when I started this fic, but once I began planning out the long-run plot I realized I could. After all, the people that would kill her don't exist, and the ones that took their places are doing things...differently. So, here we are! I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you next week.


	7. Volume Two, Chapter Seven: Something to Celebrate

Volume Two, Chapter Seven: Something to Celebrate

 

 

            Days ago:

            The morning light shone through the windows of Ozpin’s office. Glynda’s eyes had easily adjusted to the glare. Qrow, on the other hand, stood carefully out of the sunbeams, rubbing his eyes.

            She was used to seeing him drunk, hungover, or drunk and hungover, but it never seemed to slow him down. Once, ambushed halfway through his third glass of beer, he’d brought down five thugs, each one with at least a decade on him. No matter what life threw at him, what he subjected his body to, he maintained a stubbornly carefree, devil-may-care attitude.

            Now, though, he looked tired. Deep, bruise-dark crescents sat below his red-rimmed eyes. His clothes were rumpled and frayed in a way that suggested a very bad day, not years of steady use. Even his posture, a deliberate irreverent slouch, had degenerated to a slump. He didn’t look tired, she corrected herself. He looked exhausted.

            “How sure are you?” She asked.

            “Do you think I’d be here if I wasn’t?” Qrow shot back. His hand drifted to his flask, but he checked himself, patting it instead of drawing it. “She’s the next Fall Maiden.” He paused for a moment, staring into the distance, then went on: “She floats, she summons storms, she can freeze three inches of lake in seconds. She’s the next Fall Maiden.” Speech over, he sat back in his chair, one hand drifting to his necklace to fiddle with it.

            “Qrow,” Ozpin said, interjecting one of his infrequent questions into the conversation, “Your messages implied the two of you were in danger. What did you encounter?”

            This time, when his hand drifted to his flask, he took it, taking a long swig before continuing. “Grimm.”

            “Other Huntsmen in that part of Vale reported only infrequent sightings and no large packs.” Glynda said. “Was protecting Amber that difficult?”

            “Your scouts are wrong, Glynda. We couldn’t go two hours without getting jumped by a pack of Beowolves, or an angry Deathstalker, or even a Goliath. They just didn’t stop. We would have been back sooner, but I didn’t take us near any of the towns. Didn’t want to risk it.”

            “They couldn’t have been that wrong.” Glynda argued. “It makes no sense.”

            “Unusual, I agree.” Ozpin said. “Records do indicate that the Maidens tend to attract Grimm. This may be another occurrence of that phenomenon. How much have you told her?”

            “She knows she’s real good at killing Grimm, Oz. I didn’t want to break it to her all at once.”

            Conversation halted: the casual statement brought back ugly memories. Few Maidens were ready for the responsibilities of their station. Some took it worse than others.

            “An entirely prudent decision, Qrow.” Ozpin said. “I will contact the other headmasters and inform them Autumn has returned.”

            “How are you going to explain the new scary staff-wielder running around Beacon, Ozpin? She’s strong, but she’s not ready to go back out there. Especially not with the Grimm like they are.”

            “Professor Port leaves on a hunt tomorrow,” Glynda spoke up. “I’ve acquired a substitute teacher, but Amber may be a better choice.”

            “Trying to make them feel inadequate, Glynda?” Qrow asked. “She’s not real good at the whole ‘fine control’ thing just yet.”

            “They need to strive for excellence, and she needs to learn control.” She replied. “It should be good for all concerned.”

 

            Now:

            Below, prom was in full swing. Cinder leaned on the edge of the balcony, looking down at the crowd and toying with her glass of water. She’d spent some time on her hair, getting it to flow smoothly, but she still wore her standard red dress. She fiddled with her sleeves, pulling them higher up her arms. Satisfied, she took another drink of water and returned to killing time, picking out familiar faces amidst the crush of people.

            Her contemplation was rudely interrupted when Emerald skidded to a stop next to her, almost overbalancing and falling over. While she wore the simple green dress she’d rented from Thread & Needle well, her hurried, mincing steps proved she had little experience in heels. Cinder caught her by the shoulders and steadied her, guiding her to the balcony to hold on to.

            “Cinder,” Emerald hissed, “Where’ve you been? I’ve been looking all over for you.”

            “Emerald, slow down. What’s going on?” As she spoke, Cinder discretely palmed one of the Dust crystals she was carrying. A quick scan of the crowd revealed nothing suspicious, but there were just too many people for her to see all of them.

            Emerald got her balance back surprisingly quickly. Letting go of the balcony rail, she wobbled for a moment, and then got herself under control. She glanced over her shoulder, finding nothing, then turned her attention back to Cinder. “I need you to dance with me.”

            There was a pause.

            “I beg your pardon?”  
            Emerald winced. “I can explain, but I’m running out of time. Can I tell you about it while we dance?”

            As she spoke, the music shifted from something energetic and electronic to a slower piece, all piano and string instruments. Accordingly, the dancers stopped swaying and bouncing to the beat and paired off. They weren’t attempting anything fancy, but they were considerably more controlled than they were a moment ago.

            “Very well.”

            Emerald grinned. It wasn’t a particularly nice grin, all things considered.

 

            Cinder wouldn’t have expected it, but Emerald had a strong grasp of the basics. She wouldn’t be ready to tango any time soon, but she kept up with the rhythm of the steps, even in heels.

            “All right, Emerald, we’re dancing. Now, why is this so important?”

            Even without looking at her face, Cinder could tell Emerald was smirking.

            “Me and Neo are winning a bet with Mercury.”

            Cinder raised an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to dance with her next?”

            “No! No, let me explain. You’ve seen Pyrrha making heart eyes at Jaune.”

            Cinder sighed. “Far too often.” She’d handily discouraged Jaune from pursuing her the first time they met, but he seemed bound and determined to woo anyone else except Pyrrha.

            “I know! He’s just – it’s so obvious! Why can’t he see she’s into him?” Emerald growled, nearly missing a step.

            “And this is where the bet comes in.” Cinder observed.

            “Pyrrha is moping around on the outside balcony feeling sorry for herself, Jaune is trying to dance with me, and I’m going to have to pay Mercury’s _stupid smug face_ 50 Lien because Jaune couldn’t get his head out of his-“

            “I get the picture.”

            “-and realize that there’s someone perfectly willing to-“

            “ _I get the picture.”_

            “-unconscious, and if _that_ doesn’t get the point across –“

            “ _Emerald.”_

            “Oh. Uh, sorry.”

            “If I am dancing with you to render you unavailable, where does Neo come into this?”

            “She’s in the bet too. I agreed to split my winnings with her if she helps me win by playing matchmaker.”

            “I see.” Cinder said, scanning the crowd for any sign of Jaune or Pyrrha. Tonight might prove to be interesting after all.

 

            Amber watched the students dance. Occasionally, she sipped from her drink. She wasn’t wearing anything special, just her typical Huntress outfit. She took another swallow of her soda, grimacing at the sweetness.

            “Takes some getting used to, doesn’t it?”

            Amber jumped, splattering the contents of her cup across the floor. She’d been positive she was alone, but Qrow was leaning against the wall next to her.

            “I’ve only been away from the big cities for about two years.” He continued. “This is the first time you’ve been somewhere like this, huh?”

            “I still had the CCT.”

            “Eh, doesn’t count.” Qrow drew his flask and popped it open in one well-practiced move. The odor of alcohol was instantly discernable.

            “I know it takes time to adjust. Usually, though, it’s worth the effort. Get out there, socialize a bit.”

            “Like you do?” Amber asked. Immediately, she wished she could take the question back. When she glanced over to him, though, he was chuckling faintly.

            “I know I’m not the best role model, kid. That doesn’t mean I don’t know a thing or two worth knowing.”

            Amber nodded, sipping at her drink again. A minute passed, both content with silence.

            “Qrow?”

            There was a pause as Qrow finished his drink and shifted position against the wall. “Yeah?”

            “What am I _doing_ here?” The question came out more plaintively than Amber intended, and she meant to leave the question there, but more words spilled out, tumbling over each other. “No one will tell me anything. Two months ago, I was completely ordinary. Now the Grimm keep attacking me, and my Aura’s gone haywire, and you showed up out of nowhere to bring me here, but all Ozpin wanted to talk about was getting me a teaching position! Just because I grew up in a village doesn’t mean I can teach students how to hunt Grimm! Some of them are almost as old as me!”

            “Woah, easy there kiddo. Slow down.”

            Reluctantly, Amber subsided. Qrow glanced around, locating Glynda at the other end of the room. “Listen, if Glynda asks, I didn’t tell you this.”

            She nodded.

            “Okay, kid. The official playbook in these situations is that you get some time to come to grips with being able to fly and throw around lightning like a bad Dust ad before you hear about the rest of it. The _official playbook,”_ he put a mocking spin on the words, “Doesn’t talk about getting mobbed by every Grimm this side of the ocean all the way to the edge of secured Vale territory, so I figure we can ignore it. So, what do you want to know first?”

 

            Neo elbowed her way through the crowd, scanning for a pair of faces. Pyrrha and Jaune were both about six feet tall, which would make spotting them easy if she wasn’t so short. As it was, her range of vision was very sharply limited in the middle of the packed dance floor.

            Giving up, she began pushing her way out of the crowd, heading for the balcony she’d seen Cinder occupying earlier. When she got there, Cinder was nowhere to be seen, but she was afforded a much better view of the room.

            Even with her new perch, Pyrrha and Jaune proved annoyingly elusive. It didn’t take her long to pick out Cinder and Emerald among the dancers: Their colors stood out against the black suits and white dresses most of the others students had opted for.

            Giving up on finding them from her current perch, Neo was about to search the exterior balconies again when she heard a ripple of laughter spread through the crowd. It didn’t take her long to find the source of their amusement: Jaune, wearing a dress. Making a beeline straight for Pyrrha. Dancing, in fact, with Pyrrha.

            _If Emerald asks, I’ll swear it was all because of me,_ she decided, making her way to the snack table.

 

            “Anyway, that’s how it got started. You’re the latest one to get picked, and we try to keep tabs on who’s got what. Based on what you can do and when you showed up, we’re pretty sure you’re the new Fall Maiden.”

            When no response was forthcoming, Qrow continued. “I would have gotten you a card or something, but I couldn’t find a good one.”

            Amber began to say something, changed her mind, changed it again, made it halfway though the first word and stopped.

            “Sucks, doesn’t it?” Qrow finished the contents of his flask and replaced it on his belt. “It’s a lot to take in, I know. I’ll let you think about it. Just remember what I said about having some fun now and again. If you listen to Glynda too much you’ll turn into another her.” He shuddered. “One’s more than enough.”

            Qrow stood up, stretching out his back. He stepped away from Amber’s alcove, then stopped and turned back. “Listen, kid… I know I give them a hard time, but you’re in good hands. No-one’s better at this crap than Ozpin. You can trust him.”

            She nodded. He flashed her a quick smile, then vanished into the crowd.

            For a while, Amber leaned against her wall, thinking. In the crowd, the music shifted from electronic dubstep to a classical piece, and back again. Everyone laughed at something she couldn’t see. She finished her drink.

            “Hey there.” Someone said, and she would have spilled her soda again if she hadn’t finished it. Amber spun around, Aura spiking, reprimanding herself for her carelessness. _That’s twice in one night._ She made an effort to calm down, slowing her breathing. _I’m safe here. No-one’s going to ambush me._

            The newcomer was dressed in a suit and bowtie. She was no expert, but they looked poorly fitted to his frame. Amber didn’t take in the details, though, because she was focused on not blasting him through a wall. A film of frost formed over her cup in an instant, the last drops of liquid within freezing solid. There was no lightning, no gales of wind, which was what mattered.

            He held out his hand. “I’m Mercury.”

            She didn’t take it, aware her hands were freezing cold. “Amber.”

            He nodded, settling in against the wall next to her. “You’re the substitute, huh?”

            “That’s right.”

            “Can’t say I’d want that job. They at least paying you well?”

            “Oh – I suppose.”

            “Mmm.” He nodded again, leaning his head back against the wall. Without changing position, he asked “So, who was that?”

            “Who?”

            “The guy you were talking to. Older, messy hair, smells like – like booze.”

            She swallowed the first two responses that sprang to mind. “A friend.”

            “That chat didn’t seem too friendly.”

            Amber watched Mercury, trying not to be too obvious about it. He was still leaning against the wall, eyes drifting over the dancing crowd, but the warmth had fled from his voice. He wasn’t angry, sympathetic, or inquisitive, just stating facts.

            “… He’s like that.” Amber said. She raised her glass, remembered it was empty, and brought it to her lips anyway to buy time to think about her response.

            “Mmm.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” She snapped.

            “Nothing.”

            Rolling her eyes, she stood up, walking away from the irritating student. She probably shouldn’t be getting too friendly with them anyway. _Small chance of that_ , she thought to herself.

            “Wait!”

            Amber once again wished she still had liquid in her cup. She’d never gotten the chance to throw a drink on someone, but this might be a good time to start. The student – Mercury, she reminded herself – caught up to her, keeping pace as she threaded through the crowds toward the exit.

            “Look, I’m sorry.”

            Amber paused.

            “I’m trying to be better about-“ He stopped, paused, started again. “If you want help with- whatever, if that guy’s giving you some kind of trouble, I can help.”

            She stared at him, not understanding. He sighed. “Just – something to keep in mind.”

            “Qrow’s helped me more than anyone else ever has.” Amber said. “Besides, I can handle myself. Good night.” With that, she turned and vanished through the exit doors. Mercury let her go.

            “So did he.” Mercury said. “So could I.” After a moment, he shrugged and turned back to the dance. He smiled at the first girl he saw, extending his arm in an invitation to dance. Tonight was too much fun to be ruined by a bad mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening, everyone! Real life continues to get in the way of writing, but I continue to write regardless. Character interaction-heavy chapters are a lot of fun to do, but I'm also excited about the more action-heavy ones coming up in the future. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next one!


	8. Volume Two, Chapter Eight: Inspiration

Volume Two, Chapter Eight: Inspiration

 

            For perhaps the first time since the beginning of the year, enough students filed into Port’s classroom to pack it to capacity. Some of them were still rumpled, blinking sleep out of their eyes, but they had made the effort to wake up on time regardless. Port’s class was regarded as a skippable stretch of time, but today was different. Amber stood at the front of the classroom, trying not to fidget with her staff or her notes. Off to one side, Glynda cast a baleful eye on the more disheveled and unprepared of the students.

            At the stroke of 9:00, Glynda motioned to Amber, tapping a finger against her wrist in a universal gesture. Amber turned to the gathered students, smoothing out her clothes as she did so. “Everyone, let’s get going,” She said, leading the way out of the classroom.

            Teams Crimson and Juniper found their way to each other in flow of students. After glancing over her shoulder, making sure Glynda was out of earshot, Cinder spoke up.

            “What do you think’s going on with Amber?”

            “What do you mean?” Pyrrha asked.

            “Normally, substitute teachers don’t lead trips into Forever Fall. This project isn’t time-sensitive – Glynda could have waited a week and had Professor Port help out. Why are we going now?”

            “Maybe it’s an evaluation?” Jaune suggested. “If Beacon’s considering hiring her, they’d want to assess her first.”

            “That would make sense. You may be reading too much into it.” Ren contributed.

            Emerald spoke up. “Sure, but that doesn’t explain her weapon. Have you seen the size of the Dust crystals on that staff? No prospective teacher, fresh out of an academy, could get her hands on those. They’re bigger than my fist!”

            “They’re really high quality, too!” Nora spoke up. “I bet she’s the daughter of a Schnee corp executive, who gives her the best Dust around!”

            _She doesn’t dress like it._

“The _secret_ daughter of a Schnee corp executive, who keeps her quiet about her parent’s sordid affair by _bribing_ her with the best Dust around!“

            _Didn’t you say the same thing about Cinder?_

“Wait, Cinder’s a Schnee executive? Why am I only hearing about this now?” Mercury laughed.

            “You thought I was _what?”_

In between bursts of laughter, Mercury managed “No, no, it makes sense! All your Dust, and your weapons, and your attitude – you could be SDC! You could be a Schnee!”

            “What’s her weapon got to do with it?”

            “Traditionally, the Schnee family refrains from using ballistic weapons, instead relying on Dust and their Semblance in conjunction with a blade of some type.” Pyrrha explained. “Of course, the same could be said of Neo, couldn’t it?”

            The group all looked at Neo. She shrugged, then conjured a glowing snowflake glyph in the air before her. _Well, you got me._

            Everyone laughed with varying degrees of volume and control, from Ren’s twitching lips and Cinder’s chuckles, muffled with her hand, to Neo’s silent convulsions and Nora’s uncontrolled mirth. Whenever they began to wind down, someone would catch someone else’s eye and launch into a fresh bout of laughter, dragging the others back with them.

            This state of affairs lasted until they exited the school grounds. Amber led the students onwards, north off Beacon grounds and into Forever Fall. As they passed beneath the vibrant red trees, leaves crunching underfoot, the group sobered. They were outside Beacon’s protection, now. Emerald drummed her fingers on the grips of her revolvers. Neo flicked her blade a centimeter out of its sheath over and over. The group drew closer together, ready to defend themselves.

            It was almost a disappointment to arrive at the large forest clearing untroubled. As the last of the students arrived, followed by Glynda, Amber began to discuss what the students were expected to achieve in Forever Fall today. Cinder tuned the lecture out: She’d done the reading beforehand, and the lesson plan wasn’t any more interesting the second time around. Whatever interesting properties red sap might have, it wasn’t worth two trips to Forever Fall to learn it.

            Before long, CMSN separated from JNPR to complete their assigned task – setting up snares and baiting them with the sap. They had just finished the first one – a set of wire loops, wrapped around a fallen log – when Mercury spoke up.

            “Aaand I’m bored. Why are we doing this, again?”

            “So we can feed ourselves on extended hunts.” Emerald said, dabbing sap onto the tangle of wire loops with the blade of her sickle.

            “We can just eat the sap. We don’t need the squirrels to preprocess it.”

            _Protein._

“I could eat one of you.”

            “So we can pass this class.” Cinder said, getting to her feet. She concentrated for a moment, tapping into her Semblance to superheat the air around her. Her clothes could barely be considered Dust-laced, but a sparse handful of fibers had been woven into her outfit. When augmented by her Aura, her clothes were extremely resistant to heat. Red sap, errant twigs, and smudges of dirt crisped and fell away, leaving her pristine.

            Mercury applauded. “I salute both your Semblance and your cynicism.”

            Mollified by her explanation, Mercury got back to work and the group moved on, setting perfunctory snares. After setting the third, Cinder halted, holding up a hand.

            “Cinder?” Emerald asked.

            “Something’s not right.” Cinder said, drawing her bow. “Can’t you tell?”

            “I grew up in cities.” Emerald replied, peering through the treetops. “Mercury?”

            Mercury turned slowly, knees bent and ready to spring. “I can’t put my finger on it.” He murmured.

            Neo clicked her tongue, the signal she’d developed to get their attention. Once her teammates were looking at her, she signed, _Where are the birds?_

“Lots of Grimm, then.” Cinder said.

            “Oh yeah.” Mercury confirmed. “We can take them.”

            A howl echoed through the trees, and the quiet was gone, replaced with gunfire, heavy impacts, and yelling voices.

            “They’re not after us.” Emerald realized.

            “Come on.” Cinder said, advancing. “Keep your eyes open and let’s go.”

 

            Running through the forest would do them no good: They couldn’t rescue anyone if they themselves were ambushed. It was hard to remember that, though, when they could hear the sounds of pitched battle in the distance. By the time Team CMSN made it back to the clearing, their cautious advance had become a hurried jog.

            Glynda and Amber stood on opposite sides of Cardin’s team of students. Those with ranged weapons were firing on a horde of Beowolves pouring into the clearing, but Cinder’s focus was on the teachers. Glynda made swift, precise motions with her riding crop, sending a stream of projectiles – shards of wood, of stone, of Grimm – through eye sockets, knees, shoulders, and other vulnerable points. The few Ursai who accompanied the Beowolves were singled out and slain with this method.

            Where Glynda fought with lethal precision, Amber struck with raw power. She thrust her staff, sending a gush of flames from the red Dust crystal at the approaching Grimm that Cinder could feel thirty meters away. A swarm of Griffons dove for the Huntsmen. Amber flipped her staff around, wielding the white – tipped end. The wind intensified, stripping the trees of their leaves in an instant. Through the cloud of tumbling leaves, Cinder saw the Griffons lose control, tumbling into each other and the ground as the gale overpowered them. One was launched directly at her.

            Cinder was the first one to enter the clearing. She had her bow drawn, eyes darting around the area to locate threats and allies. Even with her excellent reflexes, the Griffon hurtling through the air almost struck her. She managed to roll out of the way, but its flailing wing still clipped her shoulder and sent her sprawling. The Grimm crashed into a massive tree, reverting to black smoke almost instantaneously.

            “Cinder!” Emerald yelped. Mercury and Neo moved forward, guarding their leader, as Emerald helped her to her feet. “Are you-“

            “I’m fine.” Cinder cut her off, retrieving a fresh arrow. “Keep to the edge of the clearing and stay out of their way – they’re not worrying about collateral!”

            Cinder had to shout over the howling gale to make herself heard, but Mercury and Neo obeyed. Mercury swapped his typical ammunition for high-impact Dust rounds in a smooth, rehearsed motion before sending a steady stream of shots into the oncoming Beowolves, each shot accounting for at least one of the creatures. Neo resigned herself to a support role, using her illusions to confuse and distract the larger Grimm. It wasn’t difficult – Only a few Grimm targeted their group, and Neo handled them without trouble. The rest ignored them in favor of their original targets – Amber, Glynda, and CRDL.

            It had taken CMSN a minute to make their way to the battlefield. Despite the extended conflict and their heavy losses, the Grimm showed no signs of slowing or relenting: every creature from the lesser Beowolves to the massive Ursai, who should know better, continued to press forward relentlessly. Cinder grimaced as she nocked another arrow. She couldn’t make precise shots in this weather, with the wind blowing her hair sideways, with dirt and Grimm smoke stinging her eyes. Amber used her fire blasts indiscriminately, and had almost ignited large sections of the clearing twice before she stopped using them altogether in favor of her wind control. As such, Cinder was burning through her supply of Dust arrows, which didn’t need to strike precise vulnerable points, with alarming speed. She fired another shot at an Ursa Major, aiming for the expanse of black fur below the bony plates on its back. The wind caught it, twisting it off-course to impact on its “mask.”

            The thick plate, pitted and scarred with years of combat, shattered beneath the explosive Dust blast. The Ursa locked eyes with Cinder, and despite her training, despite the armor of self-assurance she’d built over the years, a little part of her brain still quaked to know something that big and old wanted her dead.

            The Grimm broke eye contact first, shaking its head to remove the last shards of bone that clung to its fur. Instead of charging Cinder, it continued pressing forward towards where Glynda and Amber protected the students. Without losing focus, Glynda thrust her crop at it: the Ursa was launched backwards, scattering lesser Grimm.

            An explosion rocked the ranks of the Grimm opposite Cinder and her team. Several more followed in in quick succession, and then Pyrrha and Jaune were cleaving through their ranks, not giving the staggered Grimm a moment to recover. Cinder blinked: He’d come a long way since the last time she’d seen him fight. Ren and Nora hung back, pouring more firepower into the monsters. Like Cinder’s team, only the Grimm closest to them bothered to attack the newcomers. The rest charged for the center of the clearing, ignoring the wounds they accrued along the way.

            With two teams – three, counting CRDL – assisting, the teachers began to push the Grimm back. They attacked with as much ferocity as ever, but they died as fast as they arrived. Fresh Grimm made it less and less far into the clearing before being brought down.

            An echoing cry staggered the defenders. The sound was piercing, even over the howling wind. It was sudden– one moment the sky was filled with leaves and other lightweight debris, the next a Nevermore had risen into view. It was old: plates of bone covered large sections of its neck and chest. It rose into the air with one wingbeat and fired a spray of feathers at the defenders with the next.

            Glynda spun, bringing up her crop and conjuring a massive, glowing circle of purple runes above her group. The storm of feathers slammed into it and shattered or deflected off at all angles. She staggered, dazed by the impact and the exertion. Amber brought her staff up, firing a blaze of fire at the Nevermore, to little apparent affect.

            “Get the wolves!” Cinder shouted, charging. With the defenders distracted, the ground Grimm were making another push forward, and could overrun them with little effort. Cinder’s team charged with her, tearing into the Grimm in melee at last. Across the clearing, JNPR did the same, advancing and taking ground at last.

            The Nevermore snarled, the sound unmistakable even from its massive throat. Its next volley was not aimed at Glynda, nor at the attacking Huntsman teams. Instead, it fired two lines of feathers, separating the clearing into three sections and cutting Glynda, Amber, and CRDL off from their reinforcements.

            While her teammates dealt with the Grimm they could reach, Cinder hacked at the Nevermore feathers separating her from Glynda and the others. The quills were astonishingly tough. Her sword left a shallow cut, but severing them would take time they didn’t have. Cinder pushed energy into her swords, heating them as much as she could without risking damage, then heating them more. This time, when she struck the quill, her blades cut halfway through. Her swords jarred, shifting in her grip in a way they shouldn’t. She ignored it. _I will not lose._ Even as the thought formed, the Nevermore brought its wings back for another rain of quills. Through the feathers, Cinder could see Glynda and CRDL fighting to keep from being overrun by Beowolves. Amber faced the beast alone.

            As the massive bird brought its wings down, a colossal flash of light and crash of noise blanked out Cinder’s senses for a moment. She recovered in time to see the Nevermore lurch downwards as if struck, its feather barrage robbed of aim and power. The light and noise struck again, worse than before, but Cinder was ready, this time. Behind half-shielded eyes, she saw Amber gesture and a bolt of pure, incandescent white lanced out of the sky to strike the massive bird in the back.

            Lightning. She’d called down lightning. A third strike, targeting its wing, grounded the Grimm. In her peripheral vision, Cinder saw her teammates finish off the last of their Grimm. They’d been staggered by the thunderbolts – all the Huntsmen had – but the Grimm were on the verge of routing. Even Cardin and his team were doing a good job of driving them back.

            Cinder took another superheated swing at the quill blocking her vision. It fell to the ground, giving her a better view of the scene. In the moment before the fourth bolt struck, she saw Amber’s feet leave the ground, her hand pointing at the Grimm with all the authority of an empress. This bolt flew from her hand, not the sky, and struck the beast dead-on.

            As her vision returned, Cinder saw a pink flash from behind the second quill wall. As she processed this, Nora came hurtling over the quills, hammer in hand. Nora might have been yelling something, but the ringing in her ears was too loud to make anything out.

            Moving with more speed than she would have believed possible from a healthy Nevermore, let alone one that injured, the Nevermore’s head snapped forward, beak yawing open impossibly wide, and snatched Nora out of the air. The sick feeling of disbelief and loss was just forming in the pit of her stomach before the Nevermore tossed Nora straight up, into the path of the fifth bolt.

            For an instant, Nora was outlined against the blinding white glare. In the next, Cinder was blinded, but felt a shockwave slap her in the face, blowing her hair back and knocking her back a step. When her vision returned, the last of the Grimm were fleeing into the trees. Amber was hovering – Cinder blinked the spots from her eyes – she was on the ground. The massive Nevermore had collapsed against its own wall of quills, crushing them under its bulk. It was also missing its head, neck, and an impressive amount of chest. And Nora – Nora –

            Nora was sitting on the ground, hair sticking out in all directions. Her hammer lay next to her, glowing red. She stared into the distance, eyes fixed on nothing in particular. Her expression was that of nearly religious awe.

            Ren vaulted the Nevermore’s quills and ran straight to Nora. Neo blinked past Cinder, also running to her side. Glynda followed at a more sedate pace. Once she’d satisfied herself that Nora was in no immediate danger, Glynda let the two of them get Nora back on her feet. She made her way away from their group, making sure everyone had a clear view of her.

            “Students!” Glynda began, grabbing everyone’s attention. “You have all performed admirably today, rising above and beyond what we expected of you. I commend you all on a job well done and encourage you to look to Amber as a model of what you can accomplish with sufficient time, training, and equipment. Train your Semblance as much as your body – when augmented with the right Dust, it becomes a deadly weapon.” Amber blinked, not used to the attention, but nodded along. Glynda paused for a moment: No one seemed to be in the mood for speeches, herself included. “Full marks on today’s project. You all have the rest of the day off. We’re an hour from the edge of the forest, so we will stick together and watch for any sign of Grimm. Is Miss Valkyrie-“

            “Here! Fine! I’m A-Okay!”

            Nora wobbled, despite being supported by both Ren and Neo. Her hammer refused to compact, so she carried it as it was.

            “She can walk.” Ren clarified. “She’ll need a doctor when she gets back to Beacon.”

            Glynda nodded. “Keep your eyes open and Miss Valkyrie in the center of the group. Let’s go.”

            The walk back to Beacon passed in a blur. No more Grimm menaced them, thankfully. If they had, they would have been hard-pressed to defend themselves. The students, CRDL especially, looked exhausted, and even Glynda was quite disheveled. Amber, though, looked as fresh as ever.

            _Sufficient time, training, and equipment._

_When augmented with the right Dust, it becomes a deadly weapon._

_They’re really high quality, too! A Schnee Corp executive! The best Dust around!_

_I want to be powerful. I want to be strong. I want to be safe._

_I want to do what she can._

            Cinder’s ears rang, her eyes hurt, and she was almost out of Dust arrows again, which meant hours of crafting new ones. Despite this, her back was straight and her eyes were bright.

            _I will have that power. I will become that Huntress._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings, everyone! A tag update was long overdue, and now, at last, CMSN is tagged with more than the bare minimum.
> 
>  
> 
> It is possible I have gone too far with my newfound power.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the update, and I will see you in the next one!


	9. Volume Two, Chapter Nine: Consequences

Volume Two, Chapter Nine - Consequences

 

            Cinder ran her hands over her weapons. She’d constructed them a year and a half ago, spending nearly all the Lien she’d managed to save up on the tools and materials. She’d been fighting with bows and swords for years before that, but they’d always been cheap, mass-produced weapons. For the first time, she’d had a weapon she could call her own. She’d designed it, built it, maintained it, and fought with it. By now, Cinder could tell when the blade needed sharpening or the bow needed restringing almost as soon as she picked it up. She didn’t need to examine it so closely to tell she’d damaged it, superheating it to cut through the Nevermore’s quills, but she kept hoping she was wrong.

            The grips were ruined, of course. Pulling the charred, blackened leather away, she found the slightest impression of fingers in the metal below. Cinder pressed the hilts together, listening for the smooth click of them locking into place. It didn’t come. She hefted the blade in her hand, swung it, tested the balance. The weight was wrong.

            Across the room, Emerald and Mercury sat on their beds, cleaning and maintaining their weapons. Mercury, at least, was busying himself with his legs – taking care not to glance in her direction. Cinder’s gaze slid to Emerald, and she immediately wished it hadn’t. Emerald was watching her inspect her weapons, concern writ plainly on her face. Their eyes met. Caught, Emerald opted for the direct approach: “They’re not too badly damaged, are they?”

            “They are- they will be fine.” Cinder lied.

            Neo opened the door. Seizing the distraction, Cinder turned to her teammate. “Neo! How’s Nora?”

 _She’s fine._ Neo smiled. _Talking a mile a minute about how to pull that off again. I don’t think she’s ever used her Semblance on something that big before. Magnhild – her weapon? It’s been destroyed, though. Every part fused together. She’s lucky she emptied the chamber before the lightning strike._

            Mercury whistled, long and low. “Think she’s got a spare?”

_She was trying to get Ren to bring her some blueprints she’s been working on. I think she’s making a new one._

            Neo dropped into her bed, kicking off her shoes. _Speaking of which, how are your swords doing?_

            Not for the first time, Cinder reflected that Neo was annoyingly perceptive when she wanted to be. “They are damaged,” she acknowledged, “but it’s nothing I can’t repair. I’ve been meaning to alloy them with Dust for some time now, actually. Done properly, it should repair the damage to the temper. Everything else – the mechanical damage – can be fixed in Beacon’s workshops.”

            “Alloying a pre-forged blade?” Emerald asked. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

            “It’s very rare.” Cinder explained. “Generally, the Dust needs to be added when the blade is forged. With enough skill, though, it can be done.”

 _You also need incredibly fine Dust crystals,_ Neo added. _An order of magnitude smaller than what most applications of that type use._

            You’re quite knowledgeable.” Cinder commented.

            Neo shrugged. _I saw a news report on scams and confidence tricks a while back. Promising to dust-enhance a weapon came up a few times._

            “Well, I’ve also been meaning to make some improvements.” Emerald said. “Beacon’s equipment is all so high-quality! It’s nothing like what I’m used to.”

_I have been thinking about reinforcing my sword, actually. Mercury, how about you?_

            Mercury settled back into his bed, resting his head on his hands. “Nah, I’m good. I made my upgrades ages ago, so I am going to enjoy the day off.”

“Suit yourself, then.” Emerald said, standing up. “I don’t think anyone’s using the forge right now, so we should be able to get started.”

            “Actually – I’m afraid I can’t.” Cinder said. “Neo’s right – the kind of Dust I need is very rare and expensive. I’ll need to make some purchases before I can get started.”

            Behind Cinder’s back, Neo closed her eyes for a moment, the faintest wince flitting across her features.

            “Oh – that’s fine.” Emerald said. “This weekend, then?”

            “That will work nicely.” Cinder said.

 

            Finding her target was easy. Neo was right – there were nearly no uses for a Dust powder that fine. Advanced circuitry, however, was one of them. Most of the cutting-edge research in that field happened in Atlas, but Beacon’s CCT required cutting-edge technology. Finding the Atlas manufacturer in Vale that produced computer chips for the tower was a matter of locating the one advertising itself as supplying Vale’s Cross-Continental Transmit System.

            After the White Fang attack, the Schnee Dust Company was circling the wagons, increasing security and employee scrutiny – there were theories circulating that the White Fang had a mole who allowed them access. The Fang’s feud with the SDC was extremely well-known, though, and Atlas Microelectronics didn’t consider themselves at risk.

            The alternative, of course, was that their heightened security measures consisted of two Atlesian Knights guarding the main entrance and two more at the rear. The fence was tipped with barbed wire but barely reached three meters. From her perch on an adjacent rooftop, dressed in black, Cinder smiled to herself. Candy from a baby.

            She drew her blades from the duffel bag she’d brought with her. The fire escape she’d used to ascend to her perch creaked for a moment and she froze. The idea that Marcus had tracked her erratic rooftop movements from Beacon was absurd, but Cinder couldn’t quite shake the worry that she would turn around to see him looming out of the darkness. Moving in quick, careful steps, she crossed the roof to the fire escape, ready to send a blast of fire through the metal structure.

            The escape was empty. Cinder relaxed, shaking her head. She turned back to the building, joining her blades into a bow. The roof of the Atlas building was clear, so she drew a rope arrow from her bag and nocked it to the string. Cinder drew her bow back. As she reached half draw, the bow separated into its component blades with a grating screech of metal on metal. She kept her grip on the bottom half, but the upper blade snapped backwards, narrowly missing her head. The blade tumbled to the roof, clattering and clanking.

            Cinder gritted her teeth. The mechanism that locked her blades together was more damaged than she’d thought. Dropping the arrow, she retrieved her blade. She tried joining the bow again, but to no avail. Gritting her teeth, Cinder placed the two halves of her bow together and activated her Semblance, focusing on the point they connected. As she forced heat into the weapon, it began to glow a dull red, then orange, and then her fingers began to sink into the metal. This was on the edge of her tolerance for heat, even heat she created. With great relief, she extinguished her Semblance, letting her bow rapidly cool. This time, when she drew her bow back, it held together. Even so, she did not quite bring her bow to full draw, wary of tearing her weapon apart.

            The arrow penetrated the building’s metal exterior, and Cinder tied the other end off on the fire escape. Slinging her bow over her shoulder and picking up her duffel bag, Cinder stepped onto the rope. Immediately, it was clear that something was wrong. The building’s walls were metal siding, and her arrow had not penetrated as deeply as it should. Her Aura was drained from fusing the bow together, and she struggled to hold the tightrope she’d created together.

            Cinder ignored it. She placed her left foot in front of her right foot, then her right in front of her left. The roof drew steadily closer as her Aura dwindled away. She was within range, though. She’d make it. Even as the thought passed through her mind, a treacherous breeze struck, wobbling the rope. Cinder’s balance shifted, sending her leaning dangerously far to one side. She compensated, shifting her weight and leaning back in the other direction, and the arrow slipped.

            Cinder burned her remaining Aura in a desperate attempt to keep her tightrope in place, but it was a lost cause. The rope was already slackening, a second from falling. Cinder threw herself forward, augmenting the leap with the last of her Aura. Even with Aura, she fell short of the rooftop, but her bow was out and ready. As she crashed into the side of the building, less than a meter from the top, she slammed one of the blades of her bow into the wall, arresting her fall. Below her, the arrow tore free of the building, dropping in an arc that brought it directly into contact with the barbed-wire fence. The arrow was launched away from the chain-link with an explosion of sparks.

            The terrific noise did nothing to muffle the sounds of footsteps and whirring servos approaching from both directions. Cinder tugged on her bow, trying to pull herself up and onto the rooftop, but her recent exertions left her too drained to accomplish it. Her Aura was recovering – it would be a minute before she could accomplish anything superhuman. Sweat broke out on her brow as she tried in vain to pull herself higher. The footsteps rounded the corner and she flattened herself against the side of the building. The building’s front and rear were well-illuminated, but the sides were not, and in the wildly flickering flashes of sparks from the fence, it would be easy to miss the shadow clinging to the side of the building, three floors up.

            The Atlesian Knights rounded the corner – two from each side. Cinder could hear doors slamming open – there were more inside. As the Knights drew closer, the fence blew the arrow off its rope entirely, sending it tumbling through the air and into the ground. Without the sparking fence to grab attention and conceal her, Cinder was far more exposed. She couldn’t wait.

            Taking a deep breath, Cinder drew a Dust arrow from her quiver and threw it like a dart at one of the oncoming pairs of Knights. As it left her fingers, she wrenched her sword out of the wall and dropped, aiming for the second pair of androids. The arrow struck the dirt directly behind one android, detonating and enveloping it and its partner in flames. As they spun to face the threat, Cinder dropped onto the third, burying her blade in its chest. She augmented the strike with no Aura, just the force of her fall. It was enough. The android toppled, and she threw herself off it and at the fourth, which was turning to face her. It retreated a step, trying to preserve the distance, and fired, sending a spray of bullets whizzing past Cinder’s side and up the building.

            Cinder slammed into it shoulder-first, unbalancing it and sending it stumbling back. As it recovered, bringing its gun properly to bear on Cinder, it stepped back into the electric fence. The previous lightshow was nothing compared to this – with an earsplitting bang and spray of sparks, it collapsed forward, leaking smoke from every joint.

            Cinder blinked away spots from her eyes as she tugged at her bow. It was firmly planted in the remains of the third android, and she failed to remove it. As she tugged, the remaining two androids turned around, bringing their weapons to bear. The Dust fire still burned, wrapping them in flames, but they appeared unaffected. There were three meters of empty space between her and them. The sensible thing to do would be surrender. Cinder balled her fists, drawing on what little Aura she’d managed to recover.

            As she was about to attack, a scattering of tiny explosions burst from the waists of the Knights – their ammunition, cooking off. Taking advantage of the distraction, Cinder pulled her bow free one-handed and grabbed another arrow from her quiver with the other. She brought the bow to full draw in one fluid movement. She did not release the string – it tore itself from her grip when her Aura ran out. The arrow flew true, nonetheless, striking the left android in the chest. This one, made with an explosive mix, blasted it and its companion to pieces.

            Wasting no time, Cinder grabbed her bow in both hands and turned to the fence. With all her strength, she slashed across and down, trying to open a path large enough for her to fit through. The fence threw off a blinding spray of sparks, but she finished the strike. She cut again, forming an X, then used one of her rapidly dwindling supply of explosive arrows to blow it open, bending the electrified links well out of her way.

            Before she could dive through, she saw movement in her peripheral vision. Four guards, with the visored helmets and boxy rifles of Atlas military, were charging around the side of the building from the back. Her Aura was depleted. There was no cover. She had, Cinder knew for certain, lost.

            Cinder stepped away from the fence and raising her hands. There was no point in running nor resisting, now. Her career as a Huntress – as anything but a criminal – was over. The prison sentence for what she’d done was tremendous.

            She was so caught up in her self-recrimination she nearly didn’t notice the guards were paying no attention to her. They came to a halt by the android she’d impaled, weapons drawn but not pointed at her. Not questioning the sudden shift in fortune, Cinder dove through the hole she’d carved in the fence and ran for it.

            As she passed the building she’d begun her burglary from, a figure jumped off the roof, landing directly in her path. Cinder had begun to raise her bow, but stopped as soon as she recognized Neo’s face. The Huntress wore all black, from her sturdy shoes to the cap concealing her hair. Even her umbrella canopy was a plain, unadorned black. Idly, Cinder noted that her eyes were both brown. Wasting no time to even sign, Neo grabbed Cinder by the arm and pulled her forward, away from the heist.

 

            Three blocks later, Neo lead Cinder back to the rooftops. They continued their shaky, erratic path back to Beacon, occasionally doubling back or waiting for a police car, lights flashing and siren wailing, to pass by. Neo took the lead, navigating the rooftops without Emerald’s grace but with considerable skill. She took care, however, not to let Cinder out of her sight.

            On any other day, Cinder would not have tolerated the obvious management. Today, though, fleeing the scene of her failure, she allowed it. Neo had demonstrated her ability, and Cinder her lack thereof. Taking charge was foolish, in light of her recent performance. She followed.

 

            After an eternity of hiding, dodging, and evasion, the pair descended from the final rooftop on the edge of Beacon grounds. Cinder grimaced – she’d planned to be back by two AM. Judging by the way she felt, it was at least three right now. Her hair hung in ragged tangles, her mouth felt like it was filled with cotton, and her thoughts were sluggish and dull. More slowly now, the two pressed onward, feet protesting. Before long, they were letting themselves into their dorm room.

            Cinder tugged the mask from her face, making her way towards the closet. Neo caught her shoulder and pulled her back. Cinder tried to tug free, but the smaller woman held her firm. Cinder opened her mouth to speak, then thought better of it.

            _What?_ Cinder signed.

            _I agreed to keep your secret for the good of the team._ Neo signed, uncharacteristically somber. _This isn’t for anyone’s good._

At this, some of Cinder’s fire returned. _Absolutely not. They don’t need to know._

Neo didn’t respond, only arched an eyebrow.

            Cinder held her gaze for a long minute. Another. Then, she looked away, sitting down on the edge of her bed. “Fine.” She spat. “Do what you want.” Raising her hands, she massaged her temples, soothing the headache that had developed.

            Neo reached out and shook Emerald awake.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Chapter Nine! This one's been brewing for a while. We're approaching the end of Volume Two, and I hope you'll like what I've got planned. See you next time.  
> EDIT:  
> WHOOPS this was supposed to go up Sunday. I'm not sure why it didn't, but it's up now. Sorry for the delay!


	10. Volume Two, Chapter Ten: Accountability

Volume Two, Chapter Ten: Accountability

 

            The ceiling light lit the room with a warm glow. With the curtains drawn, there was no indication of the late hour, except the occupants themselves. Emerald and Mercury, freshly awoken, blinked in the light and rubbed at their eyes. Neopolitan sat on the edge of her bed, eyes flicking from person to person and feet tapping with nervous energy. Cinder leaned against a wall, still wearing the dark, toughened clothes she’d tried to rob the Schnee Dust Company in. Her face was sculpted into careful neutrality, empty of emotion.

            “So,” Mercury said, “I’ve just got one question.”

            “What?” Cinder asked.

            “What’s with the outfit?”

 _“Mercury!”_ Emerald half-hissed, half-shouted, striking him on the arm.

            “I had very little material to work with-“ Cinder began.

            “Is this _really_ relevant?” Emerald interjected.

            “What could possibly be more relevant, Emerald? It’s not like Neo just told us that, while we’ve been sleeping, our leader has been robbing Dust stores across Vale, right?”

 _All right._ Neo signed. _This isn’t helping._

            Mercury kept talking over her signing. “See now, I was under the impression that we were being careful about leaving Beacon. I thought we were sweating and checking shadows in broad daylight in a group of eight, just in case a contract killer decided to try to finish the job.”

            Cinder’s eyes narrowed. Her mouth tightened. She drew breath, ready to spit a devastating rebuttal at Mercury.

            “I thought,” Mercury continued, not raising his voice, “That Marcus was worth our attention, but I guess we should have just been robbing shops and lining our pockets. Real dependable, fearless leader. Setting an example.”

            Cinder’s breath hissed out. Her eyes dropped to the floor.

            “Mercury-“

            He turned to Emerald, incredulous. “You’re defending her? Were we listening to the same speech?”

            “Back off, Mercury! You’re only making things worse!”

            “I am _sick and tired_ of being the bigger person, Emerald! Cinder is supposed to be our leader – why don’t you ask her what she’s been doing to help lately? If you’re not too busy-“

            Neo materialized in between the two of them, pushing them apart. When they didn’t move to close with each other again she stepped back, letting both of them see her signing at once.

_We’re all tired. Let’s not say anything we’ll regret._

            “He’s right.”

            “Cinder?”

            “He’s right.” Cinder repeated, still gazing floorward. “I’ve been putting myself at risk, endangering the team, and it nearly got me arrested. I _am_ sorry about that.” She met Mercury’s gaze. “But you remember what happened when we fought Marcus as well as anyone. I wasn’t strong enough to stop him. I didn’t try to rob the Schnees to line my own pockets. I tried to rob them because there’s an assassin after our heads and _I can’t stop him.”_ She faltered, searching for the words. “I hate being powerless. I hit him with my strongest shot while his back was turned, after the three of you got done with him, and all I managed to do was break his Aura. I never landed another hit. I saw how he fought – one on one, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. I need to be stronger – to be your leader, to be your teammate. To keep you safe. Not to line my own pockets.” Cinder rallied, standing taller. She folded her arms, waiting for Mercury’s response.

            Mercury paused, mulling over her words. After a minute, he nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry about what I said there.” He extended his arm. “Are we good?”

            Cinder took it. “Yes.”

            The tension in the room drained away.

            “That was still a really dumb stunt you pulled back there, though.”

            “I know.”

            “Hey, I’ve pulled some dumb stunts in my time. Just pointing it out.”

            “There’s a lot we need to talk about.” Emerald said. “Does anyone have anything else to get off their chest right now, or can we wait until a more civilized hour for the rest of it?”

            Everyone exchanged glances. No one objected.

            “Thank goodness.” Emerald murmured, collapsing back into bed.

            It took some time before anyone could sleep.

 

            The next day, no-one was focusing on their classes. Cinder muddled her way through the day, avoiding being called upon and taking a few cursory notes on the subjects. The day stretched on, each class taking an agonizing amount of time to finish. Finally, noon rolled around. Cinder entered the cafeteria, ordered her lunch, and brought it back to her dorm. She ascended to the roof of the building, messaged her teammates with her scroll, and began her lunch. It wasn’t long before Neo arrived.

            Cinder beckoned her over to where she sat on the edge of the roof. The smaller woman perched next to her, dangling her legs off the edge.

            “Thank you for helping calm Mercury down, back there.” Cinder began. “You’ve been a stabilizing force on this team. Myself included.” She added ruefully.

            _It’s weird, being the mature one. I’m saving up all my immaturity to drop on you, once this all blows over._

Cinder snorted. “It’s good to know I have something to look forward to.”

            Neo smiled and began digging into her lunch.

            Mercury and Emerald joined them on the roof. “Sorry we’re late,” Emerald said. “Amber’s class ran long.”

            “Don’t worry about it. Now that we’re all here, let’s get started. First of all, I agree that stealing Dust is a reckless proposition."

            “Let’s not be too hasty, here.” Mercury interjected.

            “Mercury?” Emerald asked.

            “I’ve got no problem with you stealing Dust.” He explained. “I was pissed that you were ignoring Marcus in favor of making money, but I understand that better now. Besides, I’ve seen what you can do with a proper Dust supply. I’d be stupid to object to that.”

            Emerald stared at him, flabbergasted.

            “Emerald?” Cinder asked.

            “If he’s not going to object, I will! Cinder, you were almost caught stealing from the SDC! If you’re lucky, they would have arrested you, but after the latest White Fang attack, they could have just shot you on sight.”

            “Well, I _do_ object to your choice of target.” Mercury conceded. “Still fine with the concept, though.”

            “We’re being hunted by an assassin. Do we really need more enemies?”

_We could use more weapons. Still, for the time being, I agree that you should stop. No sense taking those kinds of chances, especially after that near miss and the White Fang attack. They’ll be increasing security._

            “Agreed.”

            “Cinder?”

            “What is it, Emerald?”

            Emerald hesitated, then steeled herself and began. “You need to be able to trust us. We’re a team. If you think you need more Dust to stand a chance against Marcus, that’s reasonable. If you think we need to steal it, that’s understandable. We’re in a hurry and it’s really expensive. There’s no reason to do this alone. You know that, right?”

            Cinder ducked her head. “You’re right. It’s easy to forget that, sometimes. I know I haven’t done the best job of it in the past, but I’ll remember this.”

_We’re a team. We’ve got each other’s backs, no matter what._

            “Speaking of which,” Cinder said, “Let’s talk about Marcus. We’ve been too passive about him, and we’re all starting to fray. Eventually, something’s going to give, unless we can deal with him and drive him off for good.”

_We’re still at square one there. Junior knows everyone, and he didn’t have anything useful for us._

            “Not everyone.” Mercury said.

_Oh?_

            “Junior never dealt with the White Fang.” Mercury continued. “He said they were bad business – terrorists and all.”

            “You don’t think they’d be willing to work with a human, do you?” Emerald asked.

            Mercury shrugged. “They could be pragmatic. And Dad’s skills would be in demand. I’m sure they’d ask for a few favors in return for their help, but I’m sure they’d be willing to work with him.”

            “It’s a possibility.” Cinder acknowledged. “If it is true, though, finding anything else out will be difficult.”

 _I might know how to get started._ Neo signed.

            “Go on.” Cinder said.

            _My uncle used to know someone in the White Fang._ Neo continued, signing with uncharacteristic hesitation. _If Marcus is working with them, he would probably know about it._

            “Didn’t you say you and your uncle had a bad history with the Fang?” Mercury asked.

            _This was before that – the White Fang hadn’t gotten really bad, back then. Before Mistral._

            Mercury’s mouth formed a little “o” of comprehension. “Gotcha.” He said, and nothing more.

            Neo continued, _They haven’t spoken in years, though. He’s not going to want to talk to us._

“How are we going to find him?” Emerald asked. “Just stroll around Vale punching Faunus and checking their pockets for White Fang masks? This _cannot_ be the best plan we can come up with.”

            _He runs a small business, actually. It’s probably some money-laundering thing, but I doubt there’s a bunch of thugs hiding in the back rooms waiting to spring out at us._

Mercury frowned. “Do you stalk many of your uncle’s old acquaintances?”

            Neo rolled her eyes. _Just the ones that we don’t want to accidentally run into. It wasn’t even anything illegal, finding out who owned the place was easy._

Cinder stood up, blades in hand. “That won’t be a problem, then. We should upgrade our weapons, like we discussed. This weekend, we’ll drop by early and find out what he knows.” She gave a wan half-smile. “Let’s be sure to keep this civil. The last thing we need is to start a fight and get the police involved.”

            “We’re actually doing this.” Emerald muttered.

            “Is that a problem, Emerald?” Cinder asked.

            “No!” Emerald rushed to assure her.

            Cinder arched her eyebrow.

            _That was a sincere question, dummy_. Emerald reminded herself. “I just-we’re leaving for the Vytal Festival soon, aren’t we? I don’t want to end up disqualified because we started a fight in the middle of Vale beforehand. A-and for that matter,” Emerald continued, “Any information we get from him will be out of date by the time we get back from the Festival. Shouldn’t we wait?”

            “Marcus isn’t just going to sit around and wait for us to get back from the Festival. He’ll probably leave Vale for a while, running jobs in the nearby areas. Any information your contact can give us – his safe house, his plans, anything like that – it’ll only be valid before the Festival. Afterward, who knows if he’ll even keep working with the Fang at all?”

            “Excellent point, Mercury.” Mercury and Cinder both hesitated for a moment, unused to the phrase. “An anonymous tip to the police catching Marcus off-guard could solve all our problems. It’s worth the risk.”

            Emerald bowed her head. “Yeah. You’re right.”

            Cinder exchanged glances with Mercury and Neo. Mercury held his hands up, leaning away. Neo met her gaze and gestured towards Emerald, keeping eye contact with Cinder. Cinder nodded determinedly. She kneeled down, placing herself at Emerald’s eye level.

            “Emerald.”

            “Yeah?”

            “I’m not ordering you to do this. This isn’t your fight. You could opt out. No-one would blame you.”

            Emerald glanced up, uncertain. “What?”

            “I realize I’m asking a great deal of you. We’re talking about coercing information from a member of the White Fang at his business. If this goes badly, we could be arrested or killed. So, you don’t need to do this.”

            “We really want you to, though.” Mercury interjected, leaning away from Neo’s elbow as he did so.

            “That goes for you too, Neo. You don’t need to help us with this.”

            _I appreciate the thought, but you’re not going to go beat up White Fang without me. This is personal._

            Cinder shrugged. “Fair enough. Emerald?”

            “I appreciate the choice, Cinder. I really do.” The thief hesitated for a moment. “No. You’re my team, and this is about keeping the team safe. I’m in.”

            Cinder smiled. “Thank you.”

            “I guess it goes without saying, but I’m in.” Mercury added. “And… I really am-“

            “Mercury,” Emerald interrupted, “If you apologize for having a really awful dad who’s trying to kill us, I will smack you.”

            “…I _might_ not have been.”

            Cinder snorted. She was still staring out into the distance, but a trace of a smile was playing at her lips.

_Okay, group hug time._

            “What?”

            “What?”

            “What?”

_We just had a big fight. Come on, it’s traditional._

            “I know you’re making that up.”

_We’re still hugging._

            “…Yeah, all right.”

            They made their way back from the edge of the rooftop, forming a rough circle. There was a brief pause, then Neo grabbed Mercury and Cinder, pushing them into Emerald, then pulling the four of them together. They remained like that for a minute.

            “Thank you guys. For everything.”

            “Yeah.”

            “Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! There's some time yet, but we're approaching the end of Volume Two! Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you in the next chapter. Also, I've made sure this one went up at the proper time. Once more, sorry about the delay with the last chapter. Turns out it was stuck in preview, but not actually published.


	11. Volume Two, Chapter Eleven: The Calm

Volume Two, Chapter Eleven: The Calm

 

 

            Steel, when heated, glows and softens. The more heat poured into the metal, the softer it becomes, and the better the metal withstands impacts when cooled. This toughness comes at the cost of hardness: how well the metal performs as a blade, or how well it keeps an edge. The temperature the steel was heated to can be determined by the color of the metal and the color of the glow. When Neopolitan forged her first blade under Roman’s watchful eye, heating the steel with a blowtorch and holding the blade with kitchen tongs, she never let it pass the golden yellow that indicated a lightly heated blade. Her weapon was, though she’d never describe it in that manner, an extremely large stiletto.

            Any time Neo blocked a strike with her blade, she felt her Aura dip, depleting her reserves to keep the fragile steel intact. The blade was built for stabbing and thrusting, slipping in between plates of bone to wound the meat beneath. When forced into direct combat, she relied on her illusions and teleporting ability to distract her opponents, deflecting their strikes with her umbrella if need be.

            It worked. Much as she disliked admitting it, though, it didn’t work as well as it could. She’d designed her weapon in that way as much to make a statement as anything. _“If you’re ever in a fair fight, kiddo, you messed up.”_ Roman had told her, and her weapon reminded her of that.

            She was training to be a Huntress now. She’d joined a team, nearly died, fought an assassin, saved her partner. It was time and past time she started acting like a Huntress. Giving herself a handicap was unthinkable.

 _Knowing_ this was easy, but there was still a deep, throbbing ache in her chest, seeing her new blade. A long stripe of metal, the spine of the blade, was heated to a beautiful, opalescent blue. Not giving herself any more time to think about it, she thrust her blade into a bucket of water, throwing up a hissing cloud of steam. The weapon that emerged from the water was made from combat, for death. Fitting, perhaps.

            Across the room, Cinder brushed metal shavings from her workbench. She picked up her blades and locked them together, twisting them into place with a satisfying click of metal on metal. Standing slowly, she drew back the bowstring until she was at full draw. For a long moment, she held the position, feeling the tension in her muscles and the frame of the bow. Then, she released the string, letting it spring forward and back, vibrating faster than the eye could track. The bow held.

            Closing her eyes, Cinder slumped forward, catching herself on her workbench with her elbows. She let out a breath she’d been holding since she began the final repairs to the locking mechanism. There was no feasible way to repair the damage she’d done to the blade’s temper, but her Aura would mitigate the problems it caused. What mattered was that she had a working bow again.

            Cleaning and stowing her tools didn’t take long. Despite Beacon’s lackluster Dust stocks, its machine shop was top-notch. Every tool she had used had a clearly labeled location to return it to, and nothing had broken and required replacement.

            As Cinder finished tidying up, the door to the machine shop opened, admitting Emerald. She waved to Cinder, who returned the gesture with considerably less energy. Emerald waved to Neo as well, but the shorter woman was engrossed in her work. Having finished forging the blade, she was now sharpening it, using another of the many complex tools in the shop. With her heavy, noise-canceling headphones, Neo was completely focused on her task.

            As Cinder and Emerald approached, Neo’s blade slipped. The point of the long, thin blade jumped outwards and upwards, smacking into the fingers of her right hand. Neo caught the blade, a pink glow playing around the fingers of her heavy glove, and forced it back into place, reaching out with her other hand to kill the power. Once she was sure there was no further danger, she stepped back, pushing her safety goggles up to rub at her eyes.

            Emerald took the opportunity, stepping around the sharpening station and into Neo’s field of view. Alerted, Neo removed her headphones.

            “Trouble?” Emerald asked.

            _Just tired._ Neo signed. _I’m nearly done, though._ She yawned. _Won’t be long now._

            “Maybe you should wait until tomorrow, then. You can pick this up in the morning, before we go track down this White Fang guy, right?”

            Neo hesitated. _I guess…_

“I’m asking,” Emerald added, trying valiantly not to crack a smile, “Because you’ve missed dinner.”

            “What?” Cinder interjected.

            “Cafeteria closed ten minutes ago.” Emerald confirmed.

            Neo pulled her scroll out of a pocket, thumbing it on in the same motion to check the time. She winced.

            “We can order something.” Cinder said. “It shouldn’t cost-“

            “Gotcha covered,” Emerald interrupted. “Me and Mercury bought you some food.”

            _Thanks!_

“And coffee.” Emerald added.

            “You are a _saint._ ” Cinder said.

            Emerald grinned. “That’s a new one. C’mon, you can finish up your projects tomorrow. Let’s go get some food.”

            _Where is Mercury, anyway?_

“Well, we’re not going to eat in the machine shop, are we? I sent him ahead to set up.”

 

            The air was beginning to cool, with nightfall and the turning of the seasons, but the day had been unusually warm and the temperature outside was still pleasant, even without a jacket. Emerald lead Cinder and Neo through Beacon Academy, back towards their dorm. When they had nearly arrived, she stepped off the path, leading them onto the lawn behind their dorm. The sun had set by then, but periodic lampposts cast enough light to navigate by.

            Mercury sat cross-legged on a blanket spread out on the damp grass. Four plastic cases and four drinks of various descriptions were arranged before him. He was busy tearing into the contents of his case – a pair of drumsticks. As they approached, he looked up and waved them over.

            “You managed to drag them out of the shop, huh?” Mercury said. “I didn’t think it could be done.” Neo flicked a blueberry from her meal at him. He caught it in his mouth.

            The meal passed in contented silence, broken only by the sound of chewing. It didn’t take long for them to empty their plates -  Beacon’s food was filling, but nothing good enough to linger over. The members of team Crimson relaxed, sated.

            After a minute, Cinder spoke up. “We’re nearly ready for tomorrow. My bow is working again, and Neo’s new blade is nearly ready. Emerald, I assume you’ve finished your modifications?”

            Emerald nodded. “I just fixed up the trigger mechanism. Didn’t take long.”

            “Good.” Cinder straightened up, scanning the area. The lawn was flat and well-trimmed, lacking any convenient nooks for an eavesdropper to vanish into. “Let’s discuss our tactics for tomorrow.”

            “About time,” Mercury said. “Neo, is there anything you know about our target, other than that he works for the White Fang?”

            _Some. This is where he works._

She signed an address, spelling it out.

            “I know that place!” Emerald exclaimed. “Never seemed worth robbing, though. It’s pretty small. I doubt there’ll be more than one or two White Fang there.”

            “Remember, we don’t want a fight,” Mercury cautioned. “If the police get involved, we’re going to need to explain why we’ve taken up vigilantism.”

            “If we could prove it was a White Fang front, they couldn’t press any charges.” Emerald ventured. “Not without making themselves look incompetent and ungrateful.”

“That’s not the point,” Mercury argued. “If Marcus is working with the White Fang, we don’t want to alert him. Even if he’s not, the more public this is, the more the White Fang will want to get back at us.”

            “How exactly to you propose we avoid alerting the White Fang?” Cinder asked. “Interrogating a White Fang soldier will be noticed, no matter how we approach it. He’ll report back to his superiors.”

            Neo’s eyes were a uniform brown, barely distinguishable in the twilight. _Once we have the information, we kill him._ Cinder raised an eyebrow. Emerald stared at her, eyes wide.

Mercury nodded at her. “I’ve done the ‘robbery-gone-wrong’ setup a few times. The shop’s not in a nice part of town. The cops should buy it.”

            “ _What_?” Emerald asked.

            _Emerald, if Marcus knows we’re trying to track him down, this becomes much harder. We need the advantage of surprise, and we can’t afford a White Fang goon warning him._

            Emerald glanced back and forth between Mercury and Neo. She settled on Mercury. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this! I thought you were trying to put that kind of thing behind you.” She gesticulated wildly, tone sharp and accusatory.

            “I am!” Mercury retorted. “I don’t like killing. I won’t kill for my father again. This is different. I’ve been looking over my shoulder my entire adult life. Now, I have a chance to end that. I have a chance to be safe again. Am I willing to kill for that? Absolutely.”

            Shifting targets, Emerald turned to Neo. “Neo, you said this guy worked with your uncle. Are you really willing to kill him?”

            Neo’s expression hardened. _He stabbed my uncle in the back. I’m happy to kill him._

            “Enough.” Cinder said.

            “Cinder, I know it’s ugly, but this is our best shot. I’m willing to be the one to-“

            Neo elbowed him in the side, cutting him off. _This is personal. Once you get the information you need, I want to finish him off._

“Enough.” Cinder snapped. Her teammates subsided.

            “Neo. This is clearly more personal than you’ve let on. What haven’t you told us?”

            _Nothing important,_ she protested. _It’s personal._

“I’ll agree to let you keep your secrets if it’s for the good of the team,” Cinder said, a trace of a smirk playing around her lips. “This isn’t for anyone’s good. You’re hiding something regarding an illegal mission we are about to undertake, in which we are contemplating murdering a criminal in cold blood to conceal the fact that we are tracking down an assassin in order to assassinate him.” The amusement faded from her tone. “Spill.”

            _Okay._ She glanced around at the others. Cinder watched with interest, Mercury with curiosity, and Emerald with a mix of confusion and mistrust. Neo took a deep breath and began.

            _Ooblek hasn’t gotten here yet, but I’m sure you remember the earthquake that hit Mistral about fifteen years ago._

“This has to do with _that?”_ Emerald interrupted.

            _Yes. No more interruptions, please._

Emerald nodded, but all three listeners inched forward, ears pricked.

            _Things were pretty bad in the city for everyone. The utilities – gas, water, electricity – were all down almost everywhere. Grimm were howling at the gates. The ones who had it worst were the Faunus, though. Aid was slowest in coming to their communities. They needed large shipments of food, water, and medicine that they weren’t getting._

_The White Fang held a fundraiser in the other kingdoms, raising awareness and support. Most of the money was contributed by other Faunus, of course. They purchased enough supplies to provide immediate relief and sent a transport to Mistral._

Neo paused for a moment, collecting herself. _I’m sure you know this part already, but I hate starting in the middle of a story. Anyway, the government confiscated the shipment and sent it to ‘more desperate’ communities. You all know that part._

_The Faunus were in an uproar, but nobody else cared. They pulled more money together and made more purchases. This was done in secret, so Mistral had no idea what they were up to. When they were ready, they had another problem: how to get the supplies in without tipping the Mistral government off._

Neo paused again, sucking in a deep breath. She blinked rapidly, her eyes altering colors with each flicker of her eyelids. _Uncle Roman was a smuggler, yeah. I’m not denying that, but he was always careful. Nothing he moved was too illegal. No weapons and no people. That was his rule. He’d worked with the White Fang before, and they always paid as well as they could. Uncle called it his charity work. This contact, the one we’re going to visit tomorrow? He called my uncle, asking for help._

Emerald’s expression was one of rapidly dawning comprehension. Mercury sat back, slack. Cinder watched Neo’s hands with rapt attension.

            _He never liked to talk about this part, but I made Junior tell me._

 _Roman’s contact told him about the Faunus in Mistral and asked for his help. He paid Roman ten thousand lien to move the supplies into Mistral and get them to the faunus who needed them._ She hesitated for a moment, before gritting her teeth and continuing. _He took the job._

Emerald reached out and rested her hand on Neo’s shoulder. She didn’t acknowledge the contact, too focused on her tale.

            _Getting to Mistral was impossible. I don’t know how Uncle managed it, but he brought the supplies in at night, on land, avoiding all the Grimm drawn to the city. Maybe he bribed the guards, maybe he avoided them._ She smiled. _He’s_ really _good at his job. Anyway. He brought the White Fang in Mistral the supplies. They would distribute them to the faunus who needed it the most._

Neo stopped signing. She raised her hands, then dropped them back into her lap. “We understand,” Cinder said. “That’s enough.”

            Neo shook her head. _Not yet._ She rallied, straightening up, and continued.

            _He never checked the crates. They were sealed to keep out contaminants. He never checked the crates. Why would he? The White Fang was a peaceful protest group. They wouldn’t try anything._ She smiled a sardonic, unhappy smile. _Oops, right? In the aftermath – after the Huntsmen finished securing the city, after the panic was mostly over, after all the Grimm the White Fang attracted were killed, they hauled him up on trial. He had a Huntsman’s license, so he dodged the typical system. The Huntsmen handled it, same way they handle most other major crimes involving their own. He argued he didn’t know what he was transporting, so they settled for bankrupting him and stripping him of his license._

            Something wet slid down her cheek. _The White Fang took my family. They took my voice. Roman took me in, after the trial, and he’s looked after me ever since. For the people that remember, though, being a Torchwick is like being White Fang._ She met the gazes of her teammates, her eyes fierce and confrontational.

            _That’s why I want to kill him. Does anybody mind?_

Silence. Dead silence. Eventually, Mercury spoke up.

            “You’ve been planning this for a while.”

            Neo nodded. _Storming a White Fang business solo was a terrible idea, though, and Uncle just wants to forget the whole thing. This is my chance._ She reached up and removed Emerald’s hand from her shoulder. _You know what he did. This is what he deserves._

Emerald turned to Cinder. She didn’t accuse or gesture, just asked “Are we really going to do this?”

            “You don’t have to come,” Mercury offered.

            “After hearing all this, she’s complicit.” Cinder said. “Besides, we’re going to attack the White Fang. Sitting this one out greatly weakens us. We’re a team now. That involves taking responsibility for each other.”

            _Thank you._

            “That includes responsibility for dragging us into becoming accomplices to murder, Neopolitan,” Cinder said, not raising her voice.

            Neo winced. _I’m sorry._

            Cinder sighed. “I need to think about this. Let’s just get some rest.”

            The others nodded, quickly clearing up the remains of their dinner and retreating to their room. No-one slept well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to make jokes about here. I'll see you all next time, as Volume Two begins to wrap up.


	12. Volume Two, Chapter Twelve: Penance

Volume Two, Chapter Twelve: Penance

 

            Beacon’s cafeteria continued to produce good food. The less said about their eggs, the better, but the smell of their waffles alone was mouthwatering. Their sausages were served piping hot and in large quantities, the coffee was diluted with cream and sugar, and the rest of their food was held to a similar standard. Emerald couldn’t eat a bite. Glancing around the table, it was clear her teammates weren’t doing much better. Mercury piled his plate high and was listlessly working his way through his meal, but Cinder and Neo were barely even making an effort. Cinder stirred her oatmeal, swallowing a spoonful every so often. Neo took short sips from her latte, her waffles untouched. Occasionally, Emerald or Neo would glance up at the surrounding tables, then return to studying their meal. This early on a weekend, the cafeteria was all but empty, but Emerald still swore she was being watched. She chanced a look over her shoulder as the four of them discarded the food they were unable to get down, but the few students populating the cafeteria seemed focused on their own meals.

            The days were growing shorter, but the chill of autumn had yet to set in, and the day was warm and bright. Despite this, they each wore jackets over their typical clothes, concealing their distinctive outfits. Cinder wore a long, deep red coat over her dress, and had pulled her ashen hair back into a ponytail. Mercury zipped his plain grey hoodie up as he stepped outside, flipping the hood up and adopting a carefree slouch to his walk. Emerald fiddled with the zipper of her own jacket as they walked. The pale green fabric sported several lines of careful stitching where a mishap had torn it open. While her Aura protected the rest of her outfit without trouble, baggy clothes were always more hit-and-miss, all the more so when she wasn’t focusing on channeling her Aura. Mercury and Neo had no trouble concealing their weapons. Emerald’s revolvers were holstered at her back, and while her jacket didn’t fully conceal them, personal firearms were not uncommon. Cinder, however, carried larger, heavier weapons than the norm. As such, she’d tucked quiver and swords into a plain duffel bag.

            They had the Bullhead to themselves on the way into Beacon. On the way in, Neo disguised herself, letting the illusion of a black-and-white outfit with plenty of frills settle over her clothes. Mercury leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and tuning out the world. Cinder paced the length of the Bullhead’s hold, moving in long, sweeping strides. Emerald stared out the window, watching the city go by.

            At times, it seemed that one or another of them was about to break the silence, but they always shifted, turned away, and remained quiet. Although the day dawned bright and clear, the atmosphere was that of a hushed meeting at midnight. No-one said a word as the Bullhead landed.

           

            The streets were not crowded, but there were enough cars and pedestrians to make any assassin think twice. Still, as they moved away from the safety of Beacon’s tower and into the more run-down areas of the city, their pace slowed. Neo spun around and around like an excited child as they walked down the street, taking in everyone around them with her bright green eyes. As they approached the address, Neo sped up, separating from the group to scout ahead. The others slowed to a stop at the mouth of an alley, casting wary glances around them.

            For the next three minutes, every pedestrian was an assassin, every shadow an enemy. Mercury shifted back and forth on the balls of his feet, and Cinder radiated warmth whenever someone passed their group. _We can’t keep going on like this_ , Emerald realized. _Something’s going to give._

            When Neo stepped back into the alley, her teammates tensed for a moment before recognizing her and relaxing. _Looks like a pretty simple layout,_ she signed. _There’s one big room at the front for the customers and a counter and doorway in the back. That’s probably where the stock is. I saw one person, behind the counter, but there could be more in the back._

Cinder nodded. “Two groups, then. Neo and I will go in through the back and make sure there’s no surprises waiting for us. Emerald, Mercury, you’ll go in through the front once we’re sure there will be no reinforcements, or if we need the backup. Lock the door behind you, we don’t want customers wandering in.”

            Mercury nodded.

            “Be careful,” Emerald blurted.

            Cinder did not laugh, but the corners of her mouth pulled upwards for a moment.

            “It’s me, remember?”

           

            It wasn’t hard to find the rear entrance to the shop: The duo located the alley running behind the storefront without trouble. In the alley, the pleasant facades and inviting fronts of the buildings had given way to unadorned bricks. There was no need for fire escapes, as none of the buildings were higher than two stories. Even if they had a means of accessing the roof, it was unlikely there would be skylights or other methods of entry. There were only a handful of doors that opened onto the alley, and only one that seemed to line up with the footprint of the shop. It was painted a simple brown, which had chipped and flaked away in places, revealing the metal beneath. Cinder tried the knob. It rattled in her grasp. She clicked her tongue, stepping back from the door and scanning for windows or other means of entrance.

            _Can’t you just melt it open?_

“I could, but it wouldn’t be quick or subtle. This isn’t wood, it’s metal. Even if no-one was in the room, anything on the other side – a clipboard, a sign-in sheet – could catch fire, and then where would we be?”

            Neo nodded. _Right. I’ve got this one._ She glanced around, making sure the area was still free of witnesses, then drew her blade from its sheath. The fresh-forged steel shone in the daylight. Neo gripped the hilt until her knuckles whitened, willing away the slight tremor in her hands.

            “How are you going to get past that?” Cinder asked.

            Neo blinked into the store before Cinder could realize what she was planning.

            For one heart-stopping second, Neo was between locations, caught in transit. She was neither in the world nor absent from it. Her Semblance released her back into the world a heartbeat after she left it, depositing her into darkness. Panic gripped her then, a thousand unwelcome thoughts filling her mind. _Did I not make it? Was something in the way? Am I blind?_ Slowly, Neo raised a hand towards her face. Her breathing was fast but quiet, unwilling to make a sound and alert anyone listening. She hesitated, hand an inch from her eyes. Then, in one abrupt jerk, she clapped her hand to her face, finding smooth skin and familiar features. There were no protrusions or other marks of a teleport into an occupied space.

            Her immediate fear fell away and Neo stepped backwards, feeling with her umbrella for the wall. She found it at once, the tip of the umbrella striking brick with a smack that sounded far too loud to her ears. Calming herself, she ran her umbrella across the rough wall until she found the doorknob. There were no deadbolts to unfasten or chains to undo. She twisted the knob and the lock clicked open, throwing a ray of daylight into the darkened room.

            Cinder stepped inside. She’d discarded her duffel, and now carried her quiver and swords openly, but had not removed her jacket. They shut the door, casting the room into darkness again. They crouched there in the darkness for a minute, listening for footfalls or cries of alarm. When none came, Neo moved to stand. Cinder grabbed her wrist, pulling her back down.

            “That was reckless.” Cinder whispered.

            Neo, unable to sign and be seen, settled for a shrug and a gesture at the door.

            Cinder sighed, compressing the noise in the way Neo has come to understand meant “You are very vexing and things would be better if you would only follow orders.” Usually, she would brush it off, but there was more than a grain of truth there this time. The best she could do at the moment was a slight slump and a nod that was almost invisible in the gloom, but it seemed to be enough for Cinder, who pressed three fingers into her forearm. She removed one finger. Then two.

            Cinder lifted her third finger and the two of them rose to their feet together. A flame sprang into Cinder’s hand to illuminate the room with eerie, flickering light. By the firelight, they could make out the simple, whitewashed walls of the storeroom. This section of the store wasn’t designed for anything more than the storage of material, and even in the poor lighting it was clear that they were the only ones within. The room was mostly empty: A few crates were scattered about the stone floor, but not nearly as many as the room could contain. There were two exits, the one they entered through and a corridor leading away from the alley and towards the street. Satisfied, Cinder let the flame in her palm die down to a wisp of its former self, casting the room into a gloom they could still see through, albeit with difficulty. In her other hand was one of her swords, and its twin was fastened to her hip.

Cinder padded to the corridor, making no noise. Neo followed, eyes fixed on the shadows beyond Cinder’s light. She peeked around the corner, makings sure no-one was coming, then drew her scroll from a pocket in her dress, letting her flame die. She activated the device, pressed Send on a message she’d prepared beforehand, and returned it to her pocket.

 

            Emerald and Mercury’s scrolls buzzed. Checking them, they found one message from Cinder: _Go._

            Emerald drew in a deep breath. Beside her, Mercury sighed. The mechanisms in his legs clicked once and settled again. The two of them made their way out of the alley, towards the shop and the White Fang. The storefront they arrived at was one of the nicer ones in the neighborhood, with large windows framing the wooden door. A row of planters had been set up over the storefront, and the sign in the entrance was gold on green, standing out against its plainer surroundings. It wasn’t flaunting wealth, by any means, but attention had been paid to its construction and maintenance. As they approached, Emerald nudged Mercury.

            “Bet you anything that’s smart glass,” she murmured. Glass treated with Dust in the right way became reactive, able to become opaque or transparent at the touch of a button.

            Mercury nodded. “Good for us, then. You think we could rob it, while we’re here?”

            She growled and sped up, forcing Mercury to half-jog to keep up with her.

            “Easy there, I was kidding. No need to storm off like that, Em.”

            She didn’t slow down. “Save it for later, Mercury. This is a bad time.”

            They’d reached the storefront by now, and stopped next to the window, out of sight of anyone within.

            “Emerald, I can tell you’re tense.”

            “You think?” Emerald snapped. “I understand that we’re just going to keep fraying unless we start doing something about Marcus. That doesn’t mean I like this plan.”

            Mercury glanced around. For the moment, the streets were clear. “I’m not asking you to. Just, trust Cinder, okay? Don’t tell her I said this, but she can get us through this.”

            Emerald’s argument skidded to a stop as she processed this. “Who _are_ you, and what did you do with Mercury?” Emerald asked.

            He sighed. “If I told her, it’d go to her head, but she’s not a half-bad leader. You know that. She just needs people to keep her honest. That’s us. She might do something crazy if she was only worrying about herself, but she’s not. She’ll figure something out, defuse Neo, and keep everyone alive.”

            Emerald snorted. “C’mon, Mercury. When is it ever that easy?”

            “Look, something’s probably going to go horribly wrong in the long run. Here and now, though, we’re doing okay, right?”

            That drew a genuine chuckle. “I guess so.” They started for the door, then Emerald grabbed Mercury’s sleeve. “Thanks, Mercury. I didn’t know you cared.”

            “If you tell anyone we had this conversation, I will tell Nora you want to have a romcom marathon with her.”

            They entered the shop side-by-side.

 

            The bell on the door jangled as they stepped into the dim interior. The interior of the store was of moderate size, perhaps twice that of their dorm room at Beacon. The walls were lined with bookshelves, each one packed with books of all sizes. Several more stands cluttered the floor, each one full to bursting. At the back of the large room, a sturdy wooden counter supported a register and several more stacks of books. Behind that, a set of double doors stood closed. Aside from one man behind the counter, the store was empty.

            He was writing in a notebook, but glanced up as the door opened. Placing the notebook behind the counter, he beckoned them in. As they crossed the threshold, Emerald got her first good look at him. He was well-built, with a simple brown shirt and notable sideburns. As the door closed behind them, he called: “Welcome to Tukson’s Book Trade, home to every book under the sun! You two looking for anything in particular?”

            “Just browsing, thanks.” Mercury replied, and he returned his attention to his notepad.

            Emerald stepped behind one of the book stands, tapping out a quick message to Cinder.

 

            Cinder and Neo crept down the corridor. Unlike the stock room, the corridor was both lit and carpeted. Neo eased open a door, glanced inside, and withdrew. _Office,_ she signed. _Empty._ Cinder checked another. _Bathroom._ _Clear._ They continued down the corridor, approaching a set of double doors. Through the windows set into them, they could make out a figure on the other side, facing the store’s entrance.

            Cinder’s scroll buzzed again. She withdrew it and found a message from Emerald.

_Only one person in front._

            Cinder showed the text to Neo, then replied.

_Get ready._

            When Emerald’s scroll buzzed again, she glanced over to Mercury. He met her gaze, stepping back to the windows. She focused on the shopkeeper, shifting his reality with her Semblance. After a moment, Tukson was seeing the store she wanted him to see. She nodded to Mercury, who promptly darkened the windows, concealing the store from the outside. Working fast, he found the doorstop and jammed it into place, wedging the door shut.

            Cinder and Neo emerged from behind Tukson. The unexpected sound startled him, and he spun around, but Cinder had her blade pressed to his chest before he could complete the turn. Emerald dropped the illusion and drew her revolvers, hurrying forward with Mercury at her side. She needn’t have rushed: When the metal touched his chest, Tukson had gone very still. Neo, too, had her blade drawn, but was holding it between herself and Tukson, braced to repel an attack, not brandished as a threat. She’d dropped her disguise, and every one of her rapid blinks shifted at least one of her eyes. Mercury and Emerald remained on the far side of the counter, ready for any sudden movements.

            “The money,” Tukson began, speaking with commendable calm, “Is in the cash register. There are no alarms.”

            “We’re not here about money, Tukson,” Cinder said, keeping her blade steady.

            At this, he tensed, and for a moment Emerald was sure he would spring forward and attack them. The moment passed, and he relaxed by margins.

            “You’re good,” Tukson said at length. “Wouldn’t have guessed you were Fang.”

            There was a pause. Mercury could see Tukson’s eyes darting around, preparing something, and interjected. “We’re not.”

            Another pause, longer this time.

            “You’re not?”

            “Not even a little.”

            “And you’re not here for money.”

            “No.”

            “Then… Why?”

            “One moment,” Cinder cut in. “Why did you assume we were with the White Fang?”

            He stared at her for a moment, then came to a decision. “I’m leaving the White Fang.”

            Neo started, stepped forward and grabbed him by the shirt, forcing him back into the counter. She was flaring Aura, allowing her to manhandle someone with a foot of height on her. He didn’t resist, keeping his hands in plain sight.

            “Neo, don’t-“

            Her hands twitched, as if to sign, but she couldn’t with her hands full. Gently, Cinder took her sword hand and pulled her back. She allowed herself to be removed. As Tukson regained his balance, Neo sheathed her sword and began signing. Emerald tracked her hands, letting Cinder and Mercury keep Tukson restrained. Her signing was quick and angry, words flowing into each other. Emerald frowned, mouthing along to the sentences.

            “She says you’re lying. She – slow down – who do you think you’re fooling?”

            Tukson glanced back and forth between Neo and Emerald. He wasn’t ready to spring, but there was still a sense of imminence about his posture.

            “There’s a ticket in my office. One-way to Vacuo. There’s your proof.”

            “That could mean anything. Why would you leave the White Fang?”

            “I can’t stay with them anymore!” Tukson snapped. “I won’t be party to what they do.”

            Neo growled, genuinely growled, and her signing slowed down. Her eyes were a solid, unchanging pink.

            “You were with them for their attack on Mistral. Why would you decide to back out now?”

            “I didn’t know!” Tukson burst, his calm gone. “I thought we were moving medical supplies in, not guns. I didn’t know until it was on the news, and then it was too late to back out. Where could I have gone, after that?”

            “You stayed with the White Fang after Mistral,” Cinder cut in, “But you’re leaving them now?”

            He nodded as best he could with Cinder’s blade so close to his throat. “I’m sick and tried of being complicit in worse and worse things. If they catch me, they catch me, but I can’t keep living like this.” Tukson relaxed by a margin. “So, are you here to kill me?”

            “…No.” Cinder said.

            Neo rounded on Cinder, Tukson forgotten. _Cinder!_

            “We’re not murderers, Neo. We don’t need to kill him.”

_You can’t believe him! Mistral was fifteen years ago, and he’s having a crisis of conscience now? He’s telling you what you want to hear._

            She couldn’t brandish her sword and sign at the same time, but her hands were acquiring a pinkish-white glow as she channeled more and more Aura.

            “That is a good point, actually.” Mercury interjected. “Why are you running now? Was your baby brother blown up in the last attack on Schnee corp? Your aging aunt?”

            Tukson turned his head as best he could to glare at him. “The Fang recruited an assassin.”

            The room stilled.

            “A human assassin,” Tukson continued, unaware of the effect he was having. “I looked him up. It wasn’t hard to find his warrant. The man’s killed more people than I like to think about. You have to understand – The White Fang wasn’t always like this. We were doing real good before, saving lives. Changing lives for the better. Even after Mistral, I spent most of my time working for them sheltering injured Faunus or donating some of my profits to charities, organizations, individuals who needed it. Even with the occasional attack, it was easy to believe we were still doing the right thing. Even then, they tended to target buildings after hours. Destroying buildings, not killing people.” He spoke fast, the words almost stumbling over each other. “Adam hired an assassin. A killer. How can I ignore that?”

            _How could you ignore Mistral? What makes what you did there acceptable? Was it for the greater good?_ When no-one translated this, Neo grabbed the collar of her jacket and pulled it down, revealing a jagged, faded scar at the base of her neck. _Was_ this _for the greater good? Was my family? Was Roman?_

            She mouthed the words as she spoke them, and her anger was clear. Some part of her meaning was conveyed, because Tukson bowed his head. “I’m –“

            Neo blinked across the intervening distance, narrowly missing Cinder’s sword, and forced him back into the counter again. _Don’t you dare say you’re sorry. Don’t you dare,_ Neo mouthed.

            Cinder let her blade dip, grabbing Neo’s shoulder and trying to pull her back. Tukson raised his hands to defend himself, but hesitated halfway. Emerald and Mercury watched, unable to join the struggle without getting in Cinder’s way.

            Neo grabbed a pen off the counter, wrapping it in her Aura and raising it above her head. Tukson grimaced, but did not attempt to pull away. Cinder froze, unable to grab Neo’s arm in time to stop her.

            Neo’s arm shook, but she did not bring the pen down.

            “Neo,” Cinder murmured. “You don’t need to do this.”

            “This doesn’t fix anything,” Mercury added. “Murder rarely does.”

            “Neo, you’re better than this,” Emerald said.

            Tukson watched her, unmoving.

            Neo’s hand trembled. Her Aura wavered, flickering in and out of existence.

            Nobody moved.

            After an eternity, Neo closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them again, her eyes were a mismatched brown-and-pink. She dropped the pen and stumbled backwards, hitting the wall.

            The tension drained from the room. Tukson slumped back onto the counter, taking a deep breath. Cinder turned to Neo. The shorter Huntress stared at Tukson. _I can’t hate him,_ she signed. She took a deep breath. _I’ll be okay. Let’s get this over with._

            “The assassin you mentioned. What’s his name?” Mercury asked, taking over the questioning.

            “Marcus Black.” Tukson replied.

            “Where is he?”

            “I don’t know. He comes to the Fang gatherings, though. I know when and where those are.”

            “Go on.”

            Tukson hesitated.

            “Well?”

            “Most of the White Fang aren’t bad people. They’re hurt, and misguided, but they haven’t committed serious crimes. They joined to help people, not hurt them. They don’t deserve-“

            “We’re focusing on Marcus, don’t worry.” Mercury interjected. “We _really_ need to find him before he finds us. We’re not after the rest of the Fang.”

            After a moment, Tukson nodded. “I’ll trust you. Let me write down the address.”

            Avoiding sudden movements, Tukson withdrew a notepad and pencil from the counter. He’d just pressed pencil to paper when the shop’s door rattled.

            Everyone spun to face it. It rattled again, the doorstop holding it firm. Whoever was on the other side began knocking, a quick rhythm of loud, impatient knocks.

            “Get rid of them.” Cinder snapped.

            “We’re closed!” Tukson called. There was a brief pause, then the knocking resumed, louder than before.

            Cinder ducked behind the counter, motioning the others to follow her. “Get rid of them,” she repeated. Emerald followed her, training a revolver on Tukson, who stood between the two Huntresses. “Don’t try anything,” she warned him.

            Neo composed herself, pulling Mercury into a corner of the room and weaving an illusion over it. An illusionary wall formed over their corner. Cinder could still see the two of them – the wall did not reach all the way to the actual wall – but no-one in front of the counter could tell.

            As whoever was knocking began to push the door open, the doorstop groaning in protest, Tukson steadied himself, carefully not looking at Emerald and her revolver.

            The door creaked open, jangling the bell above it.

            “I told you, we’re closed!” Tukson called. “Come back tomorrow.”

            “We just can’t do that, Tukson.”

            Cinder stopped breathing. She glanced past Tukson to Emerald, who stared back at her, wide-eyed. Mercury squeezed his eyes closed.

            Three sets of footsteps approached the counter.

            “You know, I never thought this would how I repay this debt. Killing people, that’s to be expected, but not one of the client’s own people. Well, you don’t count anymore, huh?”

            Tukson held himself very still.

            “I’ve never been told to make it messy before. Usually, my clients want it quick and clean, but not this time. Guess you’re going to be an example.”

            From where they hid, Cinder and Emerald could see the hair on Tukson’s arms thicken and claws sprout from his fingers. The voice reached the front of the counter.

            “Before we get started, though, are there any assistants back there we need to take care of? Anyone like that?”

            Emerald, very quietly, drew her second revolver. Cinder began to channel her Aura. Neo and Mercury tensed, ready to spring.

            “No,” Tukson said. “It’s just me.”

            “Thought you’d say that. Well, doesn’t matter. I’m not here for anyone else.”

            Mercury locked eyes with Cinder. He signed, _Do we interfere?_

            Emerald and Neo watched her for their cue. Above them, there was the sound of a weapon being cocked.

            “So,” the voice said, “Anything you want to pass onto Adam before I put you down?”

            Cinder closed her eyes, thinking rapidly.

            Tukson took a deep breath. “Go to hell, Marcus.”

            Cinder made her decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE, I DIE, I LIVE AGAIN.  
> In all seriousness, while things are as busy as ever, I'm still working away at CMSN. This chapter might be late, but it is also four thousand words - somebody, stop me - so there's that. I've also clarified a plot point from the last chapter (Thanks to For+Spite for pointing that out, by the way.) Anyway, we're almost to the end of this Volume, and I hope you'll all enjoy what I've got planned for that. Thank you for reading CMSN, where the canon mains have yet to properly show up, and the canon one-shots get greatly expanded roles!


	13. Volume Two, Chapter Thirteen: Round Two

Volume Two, Chapter Thirteen: Round Two

 

            Cinder vaulted over Tukson, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him down in an Aura-fueled burst of strength. His knees buckled and he dropped, but not before providing her with enough momentum to clear the counter. Marcus was still bringing his gun into line as she slammed into his chest, feetfirst, and he was thrown off his feet and back. Cinder used the force of her blow to push herself back behind the safety of the counter. As she slid across the heavy wood, she caught a glimpse of two others, standing behind and to either side of Marcus. They were wearing white vests over black clothes – White Fang colors, just not overt uniforms.

            Marcus began firing bursts from his gun-boot before he even hit the floor. The first burst struck Cinder in the ribs, sending flashing pain up her side. The second slammed into the counter as she toppled off it. Tukson hadn’t skimped on the counter – the old, solid wood held. Cinder landed on her arms and knees and rolled over, pulling her swords free as she did so. By her side, Emerald rose to her feet, sickles sliding into position on the ends of her revolvers. Tukson didn’t bother getting to his feet and jumped onto his counter, claws bared.

            The right-hand goon hopped back, flicking an extendable baton out to its full length as she did so. Her partner lunged forward, building up as much momentum as possible in two steps before planting a powerful kick into the center of the counter. The mass of wood shot backwards, knocking Tukson off his feet and hurtling towards Emerald and Cinder. Emerald managed to roll over the oncoming projectile, but it struck Cinder hard in the legs, pinning her to the rear wall.

            As Tukson dropped, his perch gone, the Fang operative produced a knife from his sleeve and stabbed up at the falling faunus. Tukson twisted away from the strike, so it took him in the shoulder, not the throat. He landed on his side, clutching his wound, and Knives advanced on Emerald. His fingers twitched and a pair of knives dropped into his palms.

            Marcus flipped back onto his feet. At his side, Baton opened her Scroll. Before she could use it, Neo blinked into existence above her. She thrust with her umbrella as she fell, jabbing Baton in the ribs before unfurling it and knocking her Scroll out of her hand. Marcus and Baton reacted simultaneously, lashing through the air with boot-knife and rod. Disoriented from her jaunt, Neo failed to dodge, and the blows knocked her into a pile of books.

            While it had cost her, Neo had ensured neither opponent was ready for Mercury to enter the fight. He smashed through the illusionary wall Neo had extended along the edge of the room, all the way to Marcus. As he approached Marcus and the White Fang operative, he vaulted a bookstand, bringing his greaves to bear. The force of his blasts staggered them as they dove into cover.

            Marcus’ bullets were low-caliber; designed to bring down humans and deplete Aura. Mercury’s were high caliber, able to punch through bone plating and black fur, then rend the flesh within. A few bursts from Marcus’ guns might have gone unnoticed. When Mercury opened up, the streets outside Tukson’s store emptied. Vale’s police department would arrive before long.

            Cinder couldn’t have fully articulated this train of thought, given the chaos of the fight, but she understood they were working against the clock. She abandoned her attempts to free her legs from the pinning counter, drawing an arrow and taking careful aim at the White Fang member dueling Emerald.

            Emerald fought with desperate skill, managing to keep her sickles between her opponent’s knives and her flesh, but she was evidently outmatched. She retreated across the bookstore, blocking his attacks by increasingly thin margins. Knives tried a swipe across her midsection and she jumped back, taking aim with her revolvers. The wall of the bookstore arrested her retreat. She slammed into the bookshelf, rattling the books.

            Knives didn’t give her a chance to recover. He dashed forward, taking two bullets to his Aura, and slammed her revolvers out of the way with one knife. He brought the other up and into her stomach. Emerald’s Aura stopped the strike, but the force of the blow still lifted her off her feet, pressing her back into the bookcase.

            As he drew his arm back for another stab, Cinder’s arrow stuck him between the shoulderblades. She’d selected one of her unaugmented arrows, but the force of the blow still sent him reeling. Emerald wrenched her revolvers back into line, pressed them to his ribs, and opened fire. Knives staggered back and Tukson pounced on him, dragging him to the ground. The shop owner was still bleeding from his shoulder, but it didn’t seem to be slowing him down.

            Emerald stepped towards Cinder.

            “Help Mercury!” Cinder ordered. “I’m fine.” Suiting action to words, she began levering the counter off her legs with her bow.

            Emerald nodded and turned to the front of the bookstore, where Mercury kept up a steady barrage of fire on Marcus and Baton. Whenever one of them peeked out of cover, he fired an especially rapid fusillade to drive them back. If one of his legs ran empty, he tossed a clip of ammunition into the air and brought his leg sweeping through it, loading the shells as fast as possible to continue firing. It couldn’t last for long, though – the half-bookshelves they were taking cover behind were falling apart, and he was running out of ammunition.

            Emerald reached out, focusing through the chaos of the bookstore, and touched Marcus’ mind. He saw Neo lunging over his cover, stabbing down at his eyes. He grunted and recoiled, throwing himself back and away. Mercury took the opportunity and shifted his aim, opening fire on his father. Before he could land a proper hit, Baton stood up, throwing her baton in a fluid motion at Mercury. He shifted his aim, trying to deflect it, but reacted too late. The Aura-charged projectile struck him in the chest and sent him stumbling back. Baton jumped over her bookshelf and lunged for Mercury.

            Emerald’s chain wrapped around her ankles. She yanked, hard, and Baton dropped to the ground. As she thrashed, Mercury stepped forward and kicked her in the ribs. He pulled his blow, careful not to strike with lethal force. Her Aura flared, but didn’t break. He did it again, and this time her Aura gave out. She collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Emerald and Mercury grinned at each other across the ruins of the bookshop.

            A resounding storm of gunfire echoed across the room, each gunshot blending into the next. Bullets, more Dust than lead, slammed into Mercury’s torso. Each one exploded as it hit, doubling the cacophony. He recoiled, bringing his legs up to take the brunt of the attack, and the force of the shots threw him through the wall.

            Marcus Black removed his leg from the bookshelf he’d used to brace it. The barrel of his gunboot glowed bright red, and when he put it down, the carpet smoldered and smoked. He brushed wood splinters from his shoulder with a quick, forceful movement.

            Emerald flicked her wrists, ejecting the spent cartridges from her revolvers. Marcus stepped across the piles of smoldering, destroyed books, inspecting his fallen henchman. She snapped new ones in and took aim at Marcus. The assassin slammed his other foot down and extended the blade concealed in it. The thin blade stabbed through the links of chain still wrapped around Baton’s legs. He yanked his leg back and hauled Emerald forward, throwing off her initial volley.

            Emerald didn’t hesitate. She fired a bullet through her chain, severing Marcus’ connection to her. As she leveled her revolvers again, she attacked his perceptions, feeding him visions of her running for cover in multiple directions. Her deception was rushed, and the visions were blurred and jerky, no more than a distraction.

            Marcus jumped, easily reaching the ceiling. He flipped over, planted his feet, and pushed off again, rocketing right for her. Emerald managed to land some of her shots, but too many missed, and his Aura absorbed what he couldn’t dodge. Marcus slammed into her, kicking her not one time but many. He almost seemed to be running in place.

            Marcus landed and snapped an impossibly high kick to her chin. Emerald’s teeth clicked together, and she narrowly avoided biting through her tongue. As she collapsed backwards, he wound up and planted one final blow to her midsection, sending her crashing back into the rear wall.

            Cinder roared, inarticulate rage overriding everything else. She shoved the counter away from herself, dropped her blades, and thrust her palm forward, fingers curled into a claw. Her arm glowed orange-red as she channeled her Aura, burning through her reserves as fast as she could access them.

            The wood of the counter blackened in a wave, spreading outward from Cinder like a drop of ink into water. A roiling, rippling haze shot forward, directly for Marcus Black. He threw himself to the side and it missed him by inches, rocketing towards the front of the shop. Where it passed, bookshelves blackened and pages burst into flame. When it reached the front of the shop, the Dust-infused glass sparked and blew out, sending glass shards flying through the air.

            Marcus turned and ran, throwing himself into a somersault to pass under Cinder’s heat beam. As he rolled, he pushed another clip of ammunition into his boot. He fired blind as Cinder jerked her hand down, tracking him. Most of his shots missed, but one shot struck her in the ribs. With her Aura so depleted, even the unmodified bullet was able to punch through.

            Cinder grunted and grabbed her side, cutting off the heat beam. The last of it rippled forward, brushing Marcus’ face and chest as he rolled to his feet. He sucked in a breath, pressed his hand to his face and ran for the exit, scattering books behind him as he went. Behind him, the fires Cinder started spread from book to book, the dry paper easy fuel for the flames.

            Marcus burst out into the street to find it deserted. He panted, glanced from side to side, and picked a direction. As he started forward, he heard glass shatter directly behind him. Marcus ducked, and Neo’s blade whisked through where his head was a second before. He retreated, still covering his face. As he stepped back, he snapped a kick at her head.

            Neo flowed around the strike, diverting it with her sword while jabbing him with the point of her umbrella. Marcus stumbled, hampered by his injuries. He growled and rushed forward, attacking with his fist and feet, trying to bring her down with brute force.

            Neo was everywhere, ducking and twisting out of the way. None of his enraged blows managed to land a hit. Although she kept a cautious distance, she began to grow bolder, landing small nicks and cuts as she continued to evade and let him exhaust himself.

            Marcus broke away from Neo and fell back, trying to create some distance. He removed his hand from his face, raising both his hands to defend himself. The hair on the right side of his head was singed short, and the skin beneath was shiny and red. For a moment, they watched each other, neither willing to make the first move.

            A crunching, grinding crack sounded from Tukson’s store as one of the floor-to-ceiling bookcases collapsed into the flames. Neo’s eyes flicked to the store, and Marcus took the opportunity. His hand plunged into his jacket and emerged clutching a handful of clips for his gun. He threw them in a backhanded scatter at Neo.

            The Huntress saw the attack coming and leaned out of the way, tilting her head just enough to let the best-thrown clip pass her by. It came as quite a surprise when Marcus lifted his boot and fired a bullet into the clip as it hurtled past her ear.

            The clip exploded. Neo’s Aura held, but the blast of sound and heat so close to her ear stunned her. As she recoiled, clutching her ear, Marcus slammed into her, tackling her to the ground. Marcus slapped his boot, detaching one of the knives he kept concealed there, and brought it down towards her throat in a two-handed grip. Neo interposed her umbrella, planting it under his forearms and arresting his stab. Marcus continued to press down, forcing the knife closer to her throat. Neo tried to blink away, but her head was still spinning from the exploding clip. With all the Aura she was exerting, she couldn’t spare the energy or the concentration to teleport away.

            Marcus brought the knife another half-inch closer. “No more tricks,” he panted.

            The first gunshot struck him between his shoulderblades. He jolted, losing concentration, and Neo shoved him back and away. Marcus tried to get to his feet, pushing himself up on shaking limbs.

            The second gunshot struck him in the shoulder. His Aura flickered, and he dropped back to the ground.

            The third gunshot struck him in the lower back. He grunted and rolled over, bringing his gunboot up and taking aim.

            The fourth gunshot struck the boot dead-on. When Marcus tried to fire, the gun just groaned.

            Emerald pulled the trigger a fifth time and her revolver clicked empty. She swore and almost dropped her gun. The thief was only standing with Cinder’s help, but she flicked her revolver’s sickle open. Cinder kept one hand around Emerald, supporting her, but lifted the other from her wound. Despite her injuries, she mustered a flickering glow around her fist. The two Huntresses limped closer to Marcus and Neo.

            “…Ready to surrender?” Cinder asked.

            Neo got to her feet and leveled her blade at Marcus, who remained on his back. He watched Cinder as she limped forward, still supporting Emerald. “No,” he replied, and rose on shaky feet.

            Cinder grinned. “Good.”

            The four of them faced off, swaying like tired boxers at the end of a match. Marcus limped to the right, trying to bring Neo, Cinder, and Emerald all into his vision. Neo circled, staying out of his view. In the background, flames consumed Tukson’s Book Trade. The interior was saturated with smoke, and the harsh fumes filled the street. Overhead, clouds gathered and thickened.

            The tension broke all at once. Marcus threw himself at Emerald, stabbing down with his knife. Emerald raised her sickle, trying to divert the blow. Cinder threw herself to one side, trying to drag Emerald out of the way. Neo lunged forward, trying to get to Marcus before he could attack Emerald.

            A bolt of lightning lanced through the air and struck Marcus in the side, blasting him off his feet and halfway down the street. He twitched once and lay still. Emerald, Neo, and Cinder were no more than a meter from the strike. For a minute, they were half-blind and near-deaf. Cinder couldn’t hear it, but she felt icy raindrops soak her to the skin in seconds as the clouds opened up. Amber floated through the street. Her eyes burned with brilliant light, radiating outwards like the mask of some ancient goddess. She carried a staff tipped with a massive Dust crystal, but it seemed like an afterthought next to the power she commanded.

            “Stand down!” Amber shouted. Sound was tinny and strange to Cinder’s aching ears, but this command carried unquestionable power and authority. She nodded and raised her hands. Amber cast her eyes over the scene and settled on the remains of Tukson’s Book Trade, which was still burning in patches, despite the downpour. She extended her hand. The temperature dropped like a stone as frost formed across the street and neighboring buildings. Puddles froze solid in an instant and the flames sputtered and died.

            Amber watched for another moment. When no further threats appeared, she dropped to the street and her eyes returned to normal. The rain tapered off, though the clouds did not disperse. Cinder glanced to Emerald and Neo and found identical looks of awe and disbelief on their faces.

            Amber made her way to the three of them. “What in the world _happened_ here?” she demanded.

            _Mercury,_ Neo signed rapidly, fingers almost tripping over themselves. When Amber stared at her in incomprehension, she tugged at her hair before signing to Cinder. _Mercury’s still in there. We need to help him._

“We were attacked, completely unprovoked, by that man,” Cinder said, pointing at Marcus. She turned her attention to Neo and smiled. “Don’t worry.”

            _What?_

“Excuse me! Is it clear out there?”

            Everyone turned to the source of the voice-the building next to Tukson’s Book Trade. The door opened, and Tukson emerged, supporting Mercury. He was missing his shirt, which had been crudely converted into bandages for their most pressing wounds. He was also no longer recognizably a faunus – his more beastial features had reverted to human.

            The two of them limped to meet the others. Neo met them halfway and pulled Mercury into as strong a hug as he could handle. She pulled away when he yelped, smiling apologetically.

            “Everyone confirms that he attacked you?” Amber asked. When they all nodded, Amber produced her Scroll and dialed a number. “Everything’s under control here. You can send in the standard police now. Bring some ambulances, too.” She turned back to the group. “Is everyone here all right? No one needs immediate help?”

            They all shook their heads. “We’d really appreciate it, though.” Emerald said.

            Amber nodded. She seemed to be working through a mental checklist. “I need to check on that one,” she said, motioning to Marcus. “Don’t run off, okay?”

            “He’s dangerous,” Mercury warned.

            “I can handle it,” she replied.

            The five of them had been moving to sitting and lying down postures since the end of the fight. Amber’s departure was the signal for them all to collapse, exhausted, on the broken asphalt. For a minute, they just lay there, recovering.

            “We beat your dad without you,” Emerald said as sirens sounded in the distance.

            “Eh,” Mercury said. “He was the only one of us looking forward to that rematch. Besides, I was busy.”

            “Busy how?”

            “We dragged the other White Fang out of the building with us,” Tukson said.

            “They’ll sell him out in a second for a reduced sentence,” Mercury said, grinning from ear to ear.

            “Smart,” Cinder said.

            “Thanks.”

            The sirens approached. They were nearly there now.

            “I should tell someone we left them in that other building.”

            “Might be a good idea.”

            “In a minute.”

            “Sounds good.”

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good grief, writing that much action isn't easy. I've been looking forward to this for a while, though, and that makes up for it. Wow, we're almost at the end of Volume Two now. There'll be one more chapter to wrap things up, and then we'll move into Volume Three! I hope you've all enjoyed CMSN's second confrontation with Marcus, and I'll see you next time!


	14. Volume Two, Chapter Fourteen: Aftermath

Volume Two, Chapter Fourteen: Aftermath

 

            Emerald and Cinder lay side by side on medical gurneys. While each had a medic assigned to them, the majority of the attention was being devoted to the smoldering remains of Tukson’s bookstore. For their part, the Huntresses were ignoring the medics patching up their various injuries.

            “What part of _bullet hole_ sounds like _nothing serious_ , Cinder?”

            “Emerald, I got medical attention as soon as –“

            “We could have taken you to the medics! We could have told them to hurry up! We could have addressed the fact that you were shot sooner than we did!”

            “I stopped the bleeding. There was no immediate danger.”

            “Cinder, if you’re about to tell me that you self-cauterized the wound then I will be _very upset_ with you.”

            “…I might not have?”

            Emerald growled and ran her hands through her hair.

            “Watch the stitches, there,” her medic admonished.

            “Sorry.” Emerald replied, then returned her attention to Cinder.

            “I appreciate that you’re trying to be a leader and involve us, I really do. You’re still trying to do too much, though. Pushing yourself this hard for the team isn’t better than doing it for yourself, okay?”

            “For the record,” Cinder said, “You can’t argue with the results.”

            “Bullet. Hole.”

            “You can’t argue with _most_ of the results.”

            “Excuse me,” a police detective interjected, “but do you two have a minute?”

 

            On the other side of the street, somewhat removed from the chaos of police and medics, Mercury and Neo watched their teammates bicker. They were resting on a large chunk of rubble, with Mercury half-slumped onto Neo. As Emerald began to gesticulate vehemently, Mercury nudged Neo. “Think we should get involved?”

_Are you kidding? I’ll stay over here, where it’s safe. Are you going to intervene?”_

            “Nope! I’m _recording_ this.”

            Mercury nudged Neo again in what he thought was a conspiratorial manner. The effect was lessened by his breaking out into giggles. Neo pushed him upright and twisted around to look at him.

 _You got the_ good _painkillers, didn’t you._

            “Oh yeah.”

            The statement set him off again, and he lay back on the rubble and laughed. After a minute, he calmed down.

            “No, it’s not that. Not really. I’m just – I still can’t really believe it, you know? We did it. They’re going to lock Marcus up and throw away the key. I,” Mercury said, propping himself back up to look Neo in the eye, “Am on top of the world right now.”

            “The painkillers are certainly helping, though,” he added, and dropped back down.

            Neo blinked twice, eye colors cycling. _Are you sure you’re ok?_

            Mercury exhaled, long and low. “I don’t know. I’m running on adrenaline and painkillers. I feel relieved, I feel badass, and I’m sure that he’s going to come right back around the corner for me. I’ve been running from him for years. What do I do now?”

            Neo lay down next to him, settling into the lump of ragged asphalt. Marcus’ last attack had sent his magazines, Dust rounds and standard, cooking off throughout the street. She tried not to think about what would have happened if the one that blew this particular hole in the street had happened to connect with her.

_I think you get to work that out for yourself. You chose to attend Beacon, didn’t you? Not the kind of job Marcus would have approved of._

            “Yeah,” Mercury smiled. “And did you see Amber take him down? Oh, I wish I was recording that part.”

_It was pretty impressive. Think it’ll make the news?_

            “I’ll say. Who wouldn’t want to see that?”

 

            Ten blocks away, an old clocktower jutted into the skyline. It hadn’t been operational for over a decade, and much of the clock face had broken away to expose the machinery beneath. Although Grimm-free, secure land was always at a premium, a tooth-and-nail legal battle had classified this particular structure as a historical site and part of Vale’s cultural heritage. As such, a squad of mechanics swarmed through it on a regular basis, trying to hold back the tide of disrepair threatening to claim it.

            They were fighting a losing battle, of course. There wasn’t sufficient funding to restore it using period-accurate techniques, which were obscenely expensive in this day and age. Restoration using modern technology and materials violated the terms that had seen the tower safeguarded in the first place, so it remained as it was, slowly decaying, home only to the occasional nesting bird or rat. At least, that was the case on most days.

            Today, there was movement within the broken face of the tower. A slim figure unwound herself from one of the rafters and dropped noiselessly to the ground. She wore a black overcoat, secured closely to herself with thin white-grey ribbons. The ribbons were not wrapped in any kind of pattern or order, and instead served to break up her silhouette. The effect was further enhanced by her long, black hair, which hung halfway down her back and blended the distinctive shape of her head and shoulders into the rest of her body. The final piece of her outfit was a slim white visor covered in elegant black markings. It covered her eyes, rose up over her nose, and vanished into her hair. Two feline ears emerged from the top of her head.

            The woman stowed a pair of binoculars at her belt.

            “It’s her,” she said.

            “Well, duh!” the clock tower replied.

            An especially thick shadow at the back of the tower rippled and reddened as the Dust-treated cloth shifted from a deep grey to its natural color: bright, eye-catching scarlet. The person beneath unwrapped the cloak from her body and let it hang from around her neck. She stood up, hoisting her weapon, a massive sniper rifle as big as she was, into the light. At the touch of a button, it collapsed into a more portable form, and she stowed it on her back.

            She walked forward and joined her companion at the front of the tower. In the sunlight, her features were more visible: her hair was black with streaks of red, and hung to her shoulders. She had silver eyes.

            “We knew this for weeks, Blake!” she said, leaning against the machinery. “You didn’t need to drag me all the way up here to prove it!”

            “We suspected it, Ruby. There was never any proof.”

            Ruby let out an exaggerated sigh. “How many times has the algorithm been wrong, huh? And what about those weather patterns in Forever Fall?”

            “That’s confirmation that there was a Maiden. Not that she was the one.”

            Ruby walked around to look Blake in the visor. “You just wanted an excuse to get rid of that assassin guy, didn’t you?”

            Blake nodded. “He was superficial. The White Fang do not need his help.”

            “See, you could have just _said_ that. This is everyone’s problem! You’re all sneaky and twisty and you never say what you mean!”

            “I realize you can’t see my eyebrows, but I’m raising one of them.”

            “Hey!”

            Blake made a valiant effort to stifle her smile, but it was a lost cause. Ruby grinned back at her.

  
            “See, that’s more like it. You’re too stoic. It’s bad for you,” Ruby said, poking Blake on the shoulder. She stood on tiptoe to do so, as Blake had several inches on her. “Now that _somebody’s_ decided she’s who we’re after, I need to get to work. I’ll see you later, ok?”

            As Ruby approached the stairs, Blake called, “You’re going to talk to Schnee, aren’t you?”

            “Someone has to, and you don’t get along. So until you work out your problems, I’m on messenger duty. And it’s boring!” Ruby turned back to Blake, but continued to back towards the stairs down. “Tell her you manipulated that arsonist she was bugging you about into getting caught! She’ll like that!”

            “The students intervened. They handled most of the apprehension. If they were any more skilled, we wouldn’t have gotten confirmation about the candidate at all.”

            “Details!”

            Ruby blurred to Blake’s side. Blake did an admirable job of controlling her flinch.

            “Seriously though, you need to work out your problems with her. Ah-“ Ruby interrupted Blake’s attempt to interject. “I’m not saying forgive her, okay? We need the two of you working together better than this. Think you can handle that?”

            After a moment, Blake inclined her head a fraction of a degree.

            “Thanks!” Ruby said, and wrapped Blake in a hug. After a moment, she pulled away and ran for the stairs. “I really do need to go now, though! See you soon!”

 

            Cinder rejoined the rest of her team. They’d all been discharged by the medics, and were watching Vale’s emergency services finish examining the ruined bookstore.

            “How’d it go?” Mercury asked.

            “Better than last time, actually.” Cinder replied. “The police have Marcus and the White Fang members in custody, and Tukson is vouching for us. He even left out the part about us holding him at swordpoint.”

            Neo ducked her head. _I should get him some flowers or something._

            “We saved him from Marcus,” Mercury pointed out. “I think we’re about even.”

            “Anyway,” Cinder continued, “What with the recent White Fang attack, I think they’re going to take Marcus and company in and call it a day. They’re pretty busy at the moment.”

            “I did notice that they sent a Beacon teacher in to secure things first.” Emerald said. “Is that common for Vale?”

_Not really. My best guess is she was in the area and volunteered. The authorities do have unlocked Auras, but Huntsmen are just better trained and equipped to bring down people like Marcus. The police would have focused on evacuating and locking down the area until she gave the all clear. Working with the police like that doesn’t pay great, but there was probably a sizable bounty on Marcus’ head. We might get some of that, too._

            After a moment, Mercury asked, “So, are we just taking the wrong classes?”

_My uncle gave me some pointers before I started attending Beacon._

            Cinder stood up, wincing as she did so. Emerald and Neo rushed to support her. She sighed, but did not pull away. Mercury got to his feet as well, moving with the careful, deliberate steps of the intoxicated. Neo moved to his side, giving him someone to lean on. He had a full foot on her, and they made a somewhat lopsided pair.

            “I think we’re done here. Let’s go back to Beacon,” Cinder said.

            There was a general murmur of assent.

            “Think the professors will mind if we need to bow out of any fights for the next day or two?” Emerald asked.

            “Heck, we can probably get extra credit for this. Taking down a trained assassin? JNPR’s going to be jealous,” Mercury laughed.

            “Amber finished him off, you know.”

            “Eh, we had him on the ropes.”

            “You weren’t even there!”

            They moved off down the street, limping and leaning on one another but in undeniable good spirits.

            “Did anyone see where Amber went?” Cinder asked.

            “She talked to the police for a minute and left,” Mercury answered. “You were still getting patched up. Did you want something?”

            “I want to know how she managed that lightning strike,” Cinder said. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”

            “Back in Forever Fall, Glynda mentioned that she uses a lot of Dust,” Emerald said.

            “I’ve never seen anything that could augment a Semblance like that, though.” Cinder said.

_Besides, she helped us bring Marcus down. We should thank her._

            “Well, the Vytal festival tournament is coming up,” Mercury said. “She might be competing.”

            “Oh!” Emerald exclaimed. “Beacon sends teams to the Tournament based on combat achievement and teamwork. After this, we’re guaranteed a spot.”

_No rest for the wicked, I guess._

            “Would you have it any other way?”

            “And after what we’ve just been through? The tournament will be simplicity itself,” Cinder said.

            Mercury yawned a jawsplitting yawn that went on for the better part of a minute. “Let’s plan that tomorrow, ok, boss? It’s been a long day.”

            “I couldn’t agree more.”

 

            The four of them piled into the Bullhead back to Beacon. Inside the transport, the four Hunters collapsed into the seats. Cinder examined her teammates.

            Mercury leaned back in his seat and rubbed the junction between his legs and his prosthetics. Emerald absently flicked her revolver, spinning the cartridge. Neo fiddled with her scroll. They were exhausted and battered, but something had changed.

            Mercury looked up from his legs to make a joke to Emerald, who snorted and thumped him – lightly – on the shoulder. Neo conjured brief caricatures of Marcus and the White Fang, and Emerald called suggestions. They’d weathered the storm, and emerged the stronger for it.

            There was still much to be done, of course, but it would wait. Cinder leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, letting her fatigue overcome her. She drifted into sleep, secure in the knowledge that she was among friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's Chapter Fourteen, and the end of Volume Two! Before I get started on Volume Three, I need to do some prep. Once that's all sorted out, I'll see you in the next Volume. Until then, thank you for sticking with me to hear my story.  
> Also: It's nearly October 22nd, and I am very ready to be thoroughly upstaged by RoosterTeeth.


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